A/N: Steins;Gate and the other Science Adventure works belong to Chiyomaru Studio. Without these titles, I would never have the great opportunity to be able to write this fic.
This flashback includes spoilers to the Common Route of Chaos;Child. Read at your own risk.
Enjoy the chapter!
Date: November 6, 2015
Divergence: 1.048596 (Steins Gate)
Time until Overwrite: 11 years, 8 days.
"So, you still won't help?"
Daru rolled his chair back, taking his attention away from the 2chan festival that was going on because of the apparent appearance of Takuru Miyashiro at Shibuya's Restoration Festival. It was Friday night, so both Okabe and Daru were spending the night at the Future Gadget Laboratory as they usually do on the weekends now that school was over for them.
Okabe was sat on the sofa, watching the news broadcast from the CRT TV that Mr. Tennouji had given them, apparently also watching what was going on in Shibuya. He was leaned forward, taking in everything he could get. The person who claimed to be Takuru Miyashiro appeared on the screen, prompting Okabe to sigh at the fact that people would try and pretend to be someone accused of being a serial killer.
"Is that sigh a no?" Daru asked.
"Oh, no," Okabe snapped his attention away from the TV. "It was just about what's going on in Shibuya. They've really gone mad, haven't they?"
Daru narrowed his eyes. "Why do I feel like you're trying to change the subject to Shibuya so that you can avoid answering my question."
"We've gone over this haven't we, Daru?" Okabe retorted. "I just...I'm done trying to fight. I spent an eternity trapped in a hell of my own doing. I've seen horrors that no man should even have to experience once, tenfold. I've done all I could to bring about this world line, but I'm just too tired to continue trying. I said I'd offer help with ensuring that the time machine isn't created, but leading the fight against a secret Organization? I just can't do that."
"But this is the stuff you've dreamed about for years on end-"
"And this is reality as it is, Daru," Okabe cut him off. "This isn't some delusion of mine. This organization, this Committee of 300, they're real, and I just can't imagine I'd be someone capable of stopping that."
Daru slumped his shoulders, sighing. He knew Okabe was the perfect man to stop the Committee. He heard the stories of what he had to go through in order to come to this world line. The guy before him was someone who stood toe-to-toe against a research organization like SERN and came out on top because of his wit and his will, combined with the apparent help from himself and Kurisu.
"I'm sorry," Daru said.
"For what?"
"For trying to include you in this so bluntly," Daru said. "Your achievements are nothing to scoff at, Okarin, but in order to keep the world line as it is, don't you think you should try a little bit harder?"
Daru saw Okabe's blank face turn into one of anger. However, before he could get a word off, they heard a knock at the door. Okabe's attention went from Daru to the door.
"Who's that?"
"Oh," Daru realized. "I invited Kunosato-shi and her friends here in order to hide out."
Okabe froze, his brows furrowing as he thought through what Daru had just told him. "You invited them...here? Daru, we don't have any room!"
"Of course not, dude," Daru said. "I was able to arrange something with Faris-tan. I'm just here to meet them so I could take them off the hands of the guy who brought them here. Apparently he needs to go back so that he can go help Miyashiro-kun."
Daru remember having explained to Okabe what was going on after he had gotten off the phone with Ms. Kunosato. Apparently, some killer girl had instructed her to take herself and her friends out of Shibuya. Kurisu had given Ms. Kunosato his contact information after having learned of her plight, forcing Daru to move around on short notice, something that he was used to thanks to his work as co-leader of the Committee of Antimatter, the resistance against the Committee of 300 which he led with an online personality, Neidhardt. Ms. Kunosato sounded like she had a cute voice, and Daru relished in being able to hear it for as long as he could, and he could only help getting giddy at seeing just who that voice belonged to. He was also warned by Ms. Kunosato that her friends were sufferers of Chaos Child Syndrome, and that he should make no comment about their looks because they're convinced that they were just normal-looking people. Kurisu also made sure to voice that concern with Okabe when he called her in order to get more info on the group.
The pair walked down the steps to open the door to their apartment. Okabe, wearing his classic labcoat over his t-shirt while Daru opted to dress up more conservatively because of how cold it was at night in Akiba, and he knew he was going to have to walk around. Daru peered through the eyehole and saw one sole person hogging the entire viewspace. If that person was Ms. Kunosato, Daru would come to understand how someone like that could have such a cute voice.
He opened the door, revealing the rest of the people who were at the entrance. At the forefront was the beautiful girl that Daru had seen through the viewhole, black hair messily tied into a ponytail which never removed from her natural beauty. Her eyes were a sharp violet, the sharpness being added on by just how fierce she seemed to be. The thing that caught his attention most was the fact that she wore a labcoat, just like Okabe, over a school uniform. His first thought was that she was probably as delusional as Okabe and was wasting his time, but he knew Kurisu wouldn't refer her to him if she wasn't serious.
Daru turned his attention toward the girl's colleagues and could barely hold a gasp, Okabe also noticeably trying to hold one back. Behind her were four others. There was a very normal-looking man who was probably the guy who brought them, but in between him and her were three people who looked so out of place. He couldn't help staring at them. Their skin was unhealthily green, and they all seemed so withered and frail. Two of them were supposedly blonde girls, one looking smaller than the other probably because she was younger. Another differentiating factor was the fact that the smaller one had glasses and a Gero Froggy backpack. The last member seemed like a young boy with black hair, and he was clutching onto the smaller blonde girl with his life.
Daru felt a bead of sweat form on his temple and slide its way down. He could only manage to gulp. The older blonde girl instinctively covered her chest.
"I swear, Akiba is full of perverts," she said with a raspiness in her voice. "It's like all anyone can do is stare at a teenage girl while she's just trying to live her life."
The pretty one, the one who Daru could only assume was Ms. Kunosato, spoke over the CCS girl's complaints. She looked at Okabe. "Are you the man that I was on the phone with?"
Her tone was rather crass, making Daru shiver a bit.
"U-uh," Okabe started putting his hand behind his head, scratching it. "N-no. The guy you talked to is right here."
Daru could feel her eyes land on him, making his sexual urges of being dominated arise for the briefest moment.
"Oh," she said seemingly unimpressed.
"Listen, Kunosato-san," the older blonde girl spoke up again. "Are you sure we can trust these guys? They don't seem like people that can actually protect us."
"Be quiet," Kunosato ordered. "Hashida-san, I'm very sorry for intruding and asking you to help us get away from Shibuya for the remainder of the Restoration Festival."
Kunosato closed her eyes and bowed slightly. Daru was taken aback at the polarity between how he talked to her colleague and how she acknowledged his presence after confirming who he was.
"O-oh," he said. "It's no problem. Any friend of Makise-shi is very obviously a friend of mine."
"I take it I can leave you here with them?" the man spoke up. "Every second I take, the greater the danger I allow Miyashiro-kun to put himself in."
He had on a suit and tie, like one of those stereotypical detective types who went around looking deeper into cases without actually complying with the rules and regulations of the police force he was a part of. He seemed like a very tired man who was running on very little sleep, but his tone of voice was one of urgency as it seemed like he wanted to quickly leave.
"Yeah," she said. "Good luck, Shinjo-san."
"That's new," he said before running toward his car. "I never thought you'd be capable of saying something so nice to me!"
"Huh?!" Kunosato turned toward the running man, obviously offended, but Shinjo was already in the car and headed back to Shibuya.
Daru and Okabe could only watch the whole transgression occur. They looked at each other and then looked at the group remaining before them. Daru stepped to the side to allow Ms. Kunosato and the rest of the group in before Okabe stepped in his place, blocking the entrance once again.
"Be wary," he warned. "For once you feast your eyes upon the Future Gadget Laboratory, your lives will be placed in mortal danger because of the nature of our experiments. I must ask for your undying loyalty to our lab as it is all I could ask for aside from actually making you a lab member."
Daru's head bowed a little behind Okabe and he sighed. "Really, Okarin? You have to be saying that stuff right now?"
"Wrong, Super Hacka!" he said. "The name's not Okarin, nor is it Okabe Rintaro, it is Hououin Kyouma!"
As usual, the guy whipped his labcoat up to generate fake wind and covered his face with both arms before falling into a fit of mad laughter as he usually did to accompany his pose. His actions came under scrutiny from the hard gaze of Ms. Kunosato and the worried looks of the others.
It's not even "Hacka", it's "hacker", dude, Daru thought to himself.
"That's a lie," the older blonde girl uttered catching Okabe off-guard.
"W-what do you mean 'that's a lie'?!" Okabe dropped his arms and stared back at the girl pretty much ignoring her looks at that point. "Who are you to say that I, the great Hououin Kyouma, am lying?!"
"Get out of the way, idiot," Ms. Kunosato said. "As far as I know, you're just a hindrance and don't matter in the end."
Daru could only flinch at what she said. He could see Okabe's face darken as she finished her sentence, an expected reaction based off what he was forced to experience. Only he and Kurisu knew just how important Okabe was to the existence of the world line itself, and he wasn't one to call attention to his accomplishments, but hearing such scathing words from someone who didn't even know his situation hurt Daru just about as bad as he thought it hurt Okabe.
"Listen, Kunosato-shi..." Daru started but couldn't bring himself to talk about what Okabe had done in front of her.
"Fufufu," Okabe started before throwing his head back. "FUHAHAHAHA! Do you really think that such an insult is capable of making me, the mad scientist Hououin Kyouma, flinch?! You stand no chance against me, girl!"
He kept laughing, Daru understood that it was all forced. Even though it was a classic thing for Okabe to say and do, he was trying his best to mask his dejection at being treated like nothing by someone who barely understood him.
"Absolutely despicable," Ms. Kunosato said to Okabe causing him to stop his laughter. "Hashida-san, how is someone with your skillsets friends with someone like him?"
"N-Now-" Daru tried starting before he was interrupted by Okabe.
"The Hacka is not my friend!" he continued as Kyouma. "He is my Favorite Right Arm! He is my equal as much as he is my subordinate! We both aim to bring the world's ruling structure to its kne-!"
Kunosato clicked her tongue. "Your friend doesn't seem to understand the intricacies of the situation we're in, Hashida-san. Do you think we can move somewhere else to discuss matters a little more privately without a low-life like this incessant child staying around and risking the secrecy of our plight?"
Okabe cracked a little. Daru could notice the facade being chipped away with each negative remark being made by Kunosato. He knew he had to do something to stop the situation from getting out of hand, but he placed blind faith in Okabe being able to maneuver out of the situation on his own. He didn't have the strength to stand up to his best friend after all the stuff he was trying to force him to do.
"N-now, I'll have you know that all lab members are sworn to upmost secrecy," Okabe tried explaining. "Without this promise of secrecy, the world could easily go to hell quicker than you or I could blink."
This was the most serious statement Okabe came up with. This wasn't him being Hououin Kyouma for once. It was the secret about the time machine. Kurisu, Daru, and Okabe all knew about it. Most notably, Okabe seemingly knew how to build one and even proved to Kurisu that her original theory was, for the most part, right. If that secret ever got loose, then the world would turn into a hell that no one could see coming. He saw the older blonde girl perk up when he mentioned the secret, but he thought nothing of it.
Kunosato sighed. "Listen, whoever you are, you don't understand anything about the world do you? You're so stuck in your own delusions that the real world is just something that you haven't been a part of, haven't you? You've probably imagined losing someone close to you at the hands of very evil people, but you'll never come close to experiencing that in real life because of how insignificant you are on the world stage. If you can please leave while I discuss things with Hashida-san, it'd make everything easier for everyone."
Daru grit his teeth. He could only imagine what was going through Okabe's mind right now. At the very moment, he felt a very uneasy heat emanating from Okabe's persona, as if he was literally steaming. He looked over and saw Okabe caught in between a state of total hatred and internal despair. Daru wasn't used to feeling scared around Okabe, but he actually shivered when he saw the look on Okabe's face. Okabe went totally silent, not following up with a retort whatsoever. Kunosato smiled, feeling like she was finally able to get rid of who she thought was a hindrance. However, that smile instantly turned into a frown as Okabe looked right back at her. This wasn't Hououin Kyouma, this wasn't Okarin, this was Rintaro Okabe, the man who suffered more than anyone could ever imagine. Okabe stared right into her eyes, imposing an authority that he lacked when he first opened the door. Kunosato took a wary step backwards, prompting the rest of the group to step backwards. Okabe's face darkened once more, becoming a puzzle for Daru to try and decipher.
"Hey, Daru," Okabe said in a low voice. "What do you think we should tell Kurisu when she finds out we had to unfortunately turn down Kunosato and her friends."
Okabe went as far as to drop the honorifics with Ms. Kunosato when he addressed her by name. His tone confirmed Daru's suspicions that he was pissed. Usually he's able to bounce quips off someone's criticisms, but everything was usually light-hearted such as when he and Kurisu would bicker, or when he'd get into a flame-war with Neidhardt, but Kunosato's words were downright insulting to the point that he couldn't sense any sort of sarcasm in them.
"K-Kunosato-san," the talkative blonde girl hissed. "He's not bluffing. He's actually considering turning us away. Drop the bitchy act for just one second, please."
"You," Okabe pointed his finger at her. "Tell me your name."
The girl flinched and pulled back a bit, obviously feeling a little threatened by Okabe's new demeanor.
"A-Arimura," she said. "Arimura Hinae, sir."
"You seem like a knowledgeable person, Arimura," Okabe said in the same low and serious tone. "It's pretty weird how you can tell whether someone is telling the truth or not, but I know someone else who's also capable of such a trick, so I wouldn't fault you for having the same ability at all. I want you to tell me if I'm lying about something."
"Y-yes, sir."
He looked back at Kunosato who was eyeing him with contempt. "Would I be lying when I say: your damned way of life is only how it is now because of what I've done to preserve the world as you know it?"
Hinae was about to speak and confirm his statement, but Okabe had cut her off before she got a word off. The dam holding back his emotions was broken, and Kunosato was about to bear the full weight of his words.
"Based off that labcoat, you seem to be an experiment-loving girl just like Kurisu. But under all that, you're still just a kid, Kunosato. Kurisu told me all about you. I know you aim to at least be able to even walk in her shadow."
Okabe took a step out of the door toward Kunosato, prompting the entire group to take another step back. "You know what I also understand? I know you need our help, I know about the situation you people find yourselves in and how insignificant you are in the end of it all. So, you better start addressing me with the respect you sorely lack, or else I'll make your insignificance evident by sending you back to Shibuya myself!"
"Okarin, that's enough."
Daru got in between the group and Okabe. Okabe was dangerously close to grabbing Kunosato, but Daru stopped him. "Go upstairs and cool off, I'll take it from here."
Okabe seemed to snap out of the trance he was in before clicking his tongue and going back into the lab. Daru looked back at the group who were obviously shaken up by what Okabe had said, but Hinae seemed to have taken it the worst. Kunosato quickly turned to Hinae, trying to get an answer out of her about what Okabe had said.
"Was he telling the truth?" she asked.
"In its entirety," Hinae shivered. "Not a single ounce of dishonesty came from his words. You really pissed him off, Kunosato-san."
Kunosato turned to Daru, probably wondering how Okabe could be telling the truth about how he worked to preserve the world as everyone knew it. Daru put his hand up to quiet her down, not wanting another word out of her. Okabe was right, she was just a kid. No matter how mature she wanted to be, she didn't touch the experience that he nor Okabe had in regards to the world around them.
"Don't worry about it Hina-chan - can I call you Hina-chan?"
Hinae nodded slowly.
"Okarin's had a rough couple weeks and I'm sorry that he took it out on you all," he said. "He's been under a lot of pressure so I hope you can understand a little bit about where he's coming from."
Daru pushed everyone back even more so that he could step out, putting on his shoes before he stepped out.
"Anyway, this isn't the place," he said. "I just asked you all to meet me here so that it could be easier on Detective Shinjo. The real place where you're staying is farther up north."
The atmosphere was still tense due to the brutality of Okabe's words, but Daru did his best to work around it. He stretched his arms and moaned loudly as relief flooded through his body. Such an action prompted the young boy to laugh a little bit, and he was glad he got a reaction out of it at least.
"Now then," he said turning away from the lab. "If you follow me, your living quarters are this way."
Okabe and Maho walked up to Los Angeles County General Hospital. Both of them receieved a couple stares from non-assuming Americans, most likely because of how weird it was to see someone small like Maho next to a seeming madman like Okabe because of his labcoat. It was an overcast day and it was early in the morning, a time that was deliberately chosen in order to lessen the amount of people around them.
"I told you not to bring the labcoat," Maho sighed. "Now we're drawing more attention than we need to."
She was blushing the entire time, but Okabe knew she was doing her best to remain composed despite how inconspicuous he made himself out to be.
The pair were dropped off by a reluctant Kurisu, still having her doubts about the plan Okabe was trying to set in motion. He tried shaking off what had happened the night before in order to clear his head from distractions. Kurisu was hurt so bad that she had fallen asleep crying on his shoulder. Okabe wanted to blame himself for her pain, but she kept saying that it wasn't his fault despite the tears. She finally let all her feelings loose when he prompted her after the umpteenth time. However, it was different than the verbal abuse she put him through when he had first arrived to Steins Gate. She talked about how much she missed the other version of him, of the stuff that they did together that he was unable to remember at that point. She cried for him, not for herself, that he was unable to share the cherished memories that they had together. Having lived through a decade of war, he was unable to express himself as he was used to, but he couldn't help feel for the pain that Kurisu was feeling in his stead. He still pushed forward, emboldened by his past self's letter, to try and ensure the world's safety.
The doors to the hospital slid open to allow the pair into the first floor lobby. There were many people sitting around in chairs, but Maho blazed past them all with Okabe in tow. In Okabe's arms was the ridiculous amount of paperwork that needed to be signed in order to release the patients from Los Angeles General and transfer them to the Neuroscience Institute in Victor Chondria. From there, Maho planned on signing the paperwork that would hand off the patients to the director of the Wako City Institute, Mio Kunosato. Apparently, Kurisu was going to fill her in on their plight, so he only had to focus on finding a way to get the patients out of the hospital. He studied the paperwork and highlighted where the secretaries needed to sign, but even then, it would take a full minute or so just to get through and sign without reading.
Okabe looked up to find that the Neurology section of the officer was on the second floor, before his gaze landed on Maho once more who was already in the elevator waiting for him. He could feel the looks he got from the people sitting around at their desks awaiting for any other patient to come up and sign in.
This hospital has been infiltrated by the Committee, he told himself. Trust no one except for Maho.
He filed into the elevator with the woman, closing the door before anyone else chose to barge in. Okabe looked straight at the door, trying his best not to give away anything in case there were microphones or cameras in the elevators.
"Can you hear me?" Okabe said.
"Loud and clear," Maho and another voice said.
Before the mission, Daru instructed Okabe to put on the most unassuming earpiece he could ever imagine. It was small and had the color of his earlobe while also keeping the middle black to make it look like his ear canal. What people thought was just a regular ear was actually his earpiece simulating what the inside of one would look like. It also helped that he didn't have to put his finger up to it in order to activate it like he had to do with the ones on the Beta Attractor Field.
Okabe looked down at Maho and smiled. She winked in return.
"Did you see that?" Okabe followed up.
"Maho-tan's cute face makes my heart beat faster by the minute," Daru said.
It took everything in Maho's willpower to not react to what Daru had said. She also had an earpiece, but it was covered by her hair so it didn't have to go through extensive lengths of detailing in order to make it replicate what her ear would look like.
Along with his earpiece, Okabe was wearing contact lenses that acted as cameras for Daru to take in everything. He wore it with Daru's expressed purpose of seeing what he probably couldn't depending on where he was focusing. Daru also needed the lenses to help lay out the hospital and its workings so that, if needed, he'd be able to take control of the system for however long Okabe needed.
"Don't tell me, you saw something that I can't see because you're as delusional as ever, Okabe-san," Maho responded in a mocking tone.
She smirked. Even though it was a fake response that was meant to continue the flow of conversation without drawing any possible attention to themselves, Okabe could still feel like Maho was trying to make some sort of personal attack on him.
Okabe knew the risks he was taking by trying to infiltrate a hospital on his own, but his time spent in war solidified him into the man who was currently standing in the elevator, trying to have a good time. Infiltration missions were nothing to him compared to what he was forced to coordinate during wartime, but he didn't know how Maho was taking it. Her composure was perfectly fine, but he could tell that she was probably terrified at the fact that she was getting as close to danger as she was, risking her future trying to preserve the world's identity. Okabe understood better than her, if anyone got their hands on time travel, convergence would be broken and he'd be launched back into the Beta Attractor Field, possibly to his death. His resolve was strengthened when he thought about it; he brought this world line to fruition, and now he had to protect it until he could decide whether or not to hand the reins back to his other self.
The elevator ringed to signal the end of their short trip to the second floor.
Maho took a step out of the elevator, prompting Okabe to follow her. The entire floor of LA County General was dedicated to Neurology, and the front desk to it all was just a short walk from the elevator. The pair passed by a lot of empty seats, presumably because of the nature of the patients that they currently kept. The less eyes on the people that suffered from this "disease" the better it was for the people trying to experiment on them. This also made it easier to find rats trying to break the patients free, something that probably happened after the failure that his two agents endured when they came to the hospital.
Both scientists approcahed the front desk. At the desk was just one woman who seemed to be on the younger side with her blonde hair tied back into a ponytail and red-rimmed glasses sitting on her face. Her blue eyes weren't as vibrant as one would expect, probably from how bored she seemed from the lack of people on the floor. The secretary looked at them both, oblivious to who they were and recited something she probably did many times over.
"I'm sorry," she addressed Okabe in English. "But there's no visitors allowed at this time. If you have an appointment to schedule, please make your way to the first floor and they'll gladly fill it out for you there."
Maho was unfazed. "We're with the Institute of Neuroscience at Victor Chondria University. We'd like to have a look at the patients that you currently have residing on this floor."
The secretary - Amy, as proven by the nameplate that sat in front of her - was taken aback when Maho responded instead of Okabe. She looked at Maho, then back at Okabe, then at Maho again.
"I'm sorry, what?" she asked.
Maho sighed. "My name is Maho Hiyajo, I'm the director of the Neuroscience Institute from the aformentioned university. If I may ask, who's the presiding doctor over these patients?"
Amy was at a loss for words. It reminded Okabe of the first time he had ever met Maho in 2011 when he volunteered to help out at ATF. He too was taken aback at how young she looked, but she carried herself quite well despite her stature. However, no one would be able to understand that unless they got to know her the way he did when he was with her.
"Uh," she started. "I'm gonna need identification before any of that happens."
Maho rolled her eyes, took her badge off from around her neck, and showed it to Amy. Okabe followed suit and presented his badge to the secretary as well, who was still trying to piece together what Maho had given her. She looked at the badge then at Maho.
"You're 20 years older than me?!" she exclaimed.
Okabe saw Maho get red before swiping the badge away from Amy.
"I mean," she continued. "That's not a bad thing! You look so young and cute for your age!"
"I get it!" Maho snapped. "I know I'm old, but you can stop rubbing it in!"
They were all interrupted by a door down the hall to the right side of the desk sliding open then closed. A man spoke.
"Hey, Amy," he said. "Can you pull up Ms. Grant's medical history? I want to double-check something."
Okabe froze. It was an all-too familiar voice. Not only that, it was a voice that he loathed to hear no matter what. He tried so hard to keep his easy-going facade up, but hearing the voice made it so much harder for him to not crack. He looked at its origin. There he was, looking down at a couple charts in his hand, a white beard, a slightly wrinkled face, and short, blonde hair that was intermingled with a couple gray hairs. He was tall, and big. At that very moment, he emanated the most friendly vibe that anyone could possibly imagine, but Okabe saw through it in an instant. The man looked up, and a grin flashed across his face.
"Maho! Rintaro!" he dropped everything he was doing and ran up to envelop Okabe in a bear-hug.
Even though he should have been in his 60s, the man was still very strong. He seemed as healthy as he did when he was in his 40s, the age that Okabe and Maho were currently in. Okabe could feel his ribs cracking in response to the hug before he tapped the man's shoulder to drop him. He complied, giving Okabe the chance to finally catch his breath. Luckily for him, he never had the absence of mind to drop the stack of papers in his hand, and they were still safely carried with him.
"Dr. Leskinen," Maho said. "I take it you're the one presiding over the research here?"
She seemed happy to see him, like she was greeting an old friend. Okabe was not convinced that Leskinen was wholly innocent, but he put on a smile nonetheless in order to ensure that the former professor wouldn't be suspicious.
"You don't have to be so formal with me anymore, Maho," he said. "You can call me Alexis. You're not my assistant."
Leskinen smiled before wrapping Maho in a gentler hug than the bear-hug that he put Okabe through. It was odd seeing the two hug as Maho had to get on the tips of her toes while Leskinen had to basically bend over at the waist.
"I could tell from here that you're not comfortable, Okarin," Daru said in his earpiece. "Loosen up a little more."
Maho peeked between Leskinen's arm and body and eyed Okabe with care. Okabe nodded at her and at Daru before he shook off his feeling of anxiety and spoke up for the first time.
"I guess this was too much to stave off retirement, huh?" he asked.
Leskinen released Maho from their hug and faced Okabe. He put his hand behind his had and smiled.
"Yeah," he said. "A friend of mine asked me to help with this case. I took over just a couple nights ago, but I've been enticed since the cases first appeared. It's so odd that they've reappeared 26 years after the first time, don't you think?"
"Of course," Okabe lied. "That's why we're here anyway."
Leskinen's brow twitched a bit before he resumed talking to him. "I presume this is something we want to take to my office?"
Okabe nodded.
"Alright then," Leskinen said. "Follow me, please."
Leskinen walked past them and led them down a corridor that was opposite the one that he had just exited from. They passed by many empty rooms before they landed at the very end of the hall. Leskinen pushed a couple buttons before the door buzzed and slid open automatically.
The room they entered smelled totally sterile. The stench attacked Okabe's nose, but he got over it quickly. It was almost as if the doctor was a clean-freak, and he could believe it. It was all white and the only real decoration was a vase of wilted flowers sitting upon a small table. The door shut behind Okabe as he was the last one to enter, enclosing the three in the room.
"I'm sorry about the current state of the room," Leskinen said. "I would have done a better job at keeping it lively, but I haven't had the chance to redecorate a bit yet."
Leskinen sat down on a swivel chair that was next to his computer. The computer was on a railing that was hanging from the ceiling; he didn't even have a proper desk. He turned the chair away from the computer and toward the pair, crossing his left leg over his right and bringing his hands together to rest on them. His eyes were warm and welcoming, but Okabe was sure that there was still something wrong. Leskinen walked with the same gait, talked in the same tone, and smiled the exact same way. He found it eerie and, if Leskinen turned out to not be like he was on the Beta Attractor Field, very odd.
"So," he said. "What is it you would like to talk about?"
"Well," Maho responded. "With your permission, we'd like to transfer these two patients over to the Neuroscience Institute at Victor Chondria."
Maho signaled toward the stack of papers in Okabe's hands. "These are the transfer papers that we brought on the occasion that you are willing to sign them over to us. I feel like we'd be well-equipped enough to handle the study, don't you think?"
Leskinen stroked his beard, deep in thought.
"To have you, Kurisu, and Rintaro study this over myself would definitely be beneficial to figuring out this mysterious disease much sooner. However, I promised my friend that they'd stay here. We had an issue with a couple of terrorists trying to kidnap them with the possible objective of setting them loose in the populace."
He placed both legs on the ground.
"I mean, we know that New Encephalitis isn't contagious, but those who don't pay attention to the news may get scared to hear that a couple patients with an unknown disease were broken out of this hospital."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Maho said. "But don't you think it's in everyone's best interest to get to the bottom of this disease as soon as possible?"
"Why of course!" Leskinen exclaimed. "If I had total control over what to do with these patients, you know I'd sign them over in a heartbeat!"
Leskinen produced a phone from his pocket. It was slightly smaller than the PhoneDroid, probably a competitor or something. He dialed a number and put the phone up to his ear.
"Because its you two, I'll see if I can get him to bend his knee a bit and help me out."
Leskinen turned his attention toward his phone and began speaking into it. He began talking about how Maho and Okabe were there to transfer the patients over to a more readily capable facility which was the Neuroscience Institute. He began gushing over Maho's credentials and her accomplishments as well as how much of a great all-around person she was. Of course, given his other self's background, Leskinen could only gush about how much of a help he's been in getting projects like the Memory Conversion Machine and Amadeus off the ground. He talked about how Okabe was able to solve the problem with top-down memory search signals, allowing the brain to access implanted memories, thus bringing Amadeus into total sentience. He then talked about the second Einstein, Kurisu Okabe. He confirmed that Kurisu was Okabe's wife and that she was the reason why projects like that were given any attention to begin with. It was quite noticeable that he doted on the two girls as if he were their father while Okabe was like the son-in-law. Of course, given the nature of Kurisu's past, it was quite understandable that Leskinen would be the father figure that she had always searched for since she was little.
He finally got to the point and asked that the man on the phone allow for the transfer to take place. He kept saying "Yes" or "No", not allowing for Okabe to discern what the man was asking for. He couldn't even hear the voice on the other end. Despite the friendliness that the former professor displayed, Okabe was still careful to trust him. Even if his regular slouched, easy-going manner was ever-present, Okabe could feel as if he would turn in the matter of seconds.
"Perfect," Leskinen said. "Thank you."
He hung up the phone and smiled at the two.
"Based off my perfect recitement of your accomplishments, he's willing to sign off all patient rights to Victor Chondria's director."
He looked at Maho. "Congratulations, Maho. It looks like you'll be able to get to the bottom of this odd disease and possibly even get yourself another Nobel Prize in Medicine."
Maho blushed. "I do it for the science, not for the prizes."
"Anyway," Leskinen laughed. "Would you mind taking those papers to Amy? She'll be able to sign off the patients to you and have the transfer ready within the hour. I need to speak to Rintaro for a quick second."
It took all of Okabe's will to not react adversely to Leskinen's request. Maho turned to him, arms outstretched to receive the papers, but also to give him a wary glance at the same time. Okabe handed her the papers without so much as any sort of confirmation between them. She took them and backed out the door, expressing her deepest form of thanks to the former professor before heading down the hall once again. The door then automatically closed, leaving Okabe trapped inside with him.
"Impressive don't you think?" Leskinen spoke as soon as the door closed. "Something like that pops up around the globe in the span of a day, and magically there's now only two recorded cases left."
"You've got to be kidding me," Daru followed Leskinen's train of thought.
Okabe tensed up a little, but it was enough to be noted by the doctor. The gleam in his eye was one of morbid curiosity, as if he was watching an experiment unfold before him and the results he was getting were fascinating. Leskinen crossed his legs again, resting his chin on his palm. He smiled again, but this time there was something else to it that removed from the friendliness he exhibited moments before.
"Don't worry," he said. "There aren't any cameras in here so the Committee doesn't know anything about what's going on in this room, Phoenix."
Leskinen uttering his codename allowed Okabe to react. Now that he knew that Leskinen was aware of who he was, he could drop the act of being friendly with him. He clenched his fists as memories of the Beta Attractor Field began circling his mind.
"Now now," he laughed. "Don't get so defensive. We're still friends, aren't we?"
"That depends, Doctor," Okabe replied. "Do you work for the Committee?"
Okabe was angry and he made his distaste shown. His eyes were narrowed at Leskinen and his teeth were clenched. The experiences that the man before him put him through was enough to make Okabe want to kill him, and it took Okabe everything in his power to not act. His suspicions were confirmed, Leskinen was not an innocent man like he had hoped the Steins Gate World Line would make him out to be.
"Not exactly," he admitted. "They just hired my group to help them do some investigation."
"Stratfor?"
"Wow," he laughed. "It seems like you've done your research on me as well, huh?"
Okabe shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms in order to try and relieve some of the tension he was feeling. He swore he felt like he could crush his own hands under his armpits if he tried hard enough.
"Anyway," he continued. "The Committee hired us to do some digging on you and your little group. You can imagine my amazement when I found out that you were the one behind foiling their plans."
Leskinen got up from his chair and leaned up against the wall across from Okabe. "I'm impressed that you were able to turn SERN away from the Committee as well. If I may ask, how did you do that?"
SERN is an extension of Valkyrie!? Okabe never knew about that fact.
Thinking about it further, it was the only way he could deduce how Valkyrie could have so many agents active on the field. They were Rounders, converted to do work against the Committee rather than for it. He couldn't help wonder how they were able to achieve such a feat.
"I'm afraid I can't exactly reveal that," Okabe responded. "You're on the Committee's side after all."
"Am I really, though?" Leskinen asked. "If I were on their side, I would have given them your identity quite a couple years ago. Rintaro, I love you like the son I never had, but you know how powerful the Committee is."
He sighed and chose to walk closer to Okabe, putting a careful hand on his shoulder. It took all of Okabe's being to not grab it and twist it until it broke off his elbow. That man was not his father figure, nor would he ever be.
"I would never want to willingly hurt you," Leskinen continued. "But if you choose to do anything to these patients aside from studying them, I'll have no choice but to report you to the Committee. I'm signing them off to Victor Chondria on good faith that you will actually study them so that you can report back to me; that way I can report your findings to the Committee and complete the favor I'm meant to do, and your identity will be safe with me."
"How many of your people know of my identity?"
"Only me," Leskinen said. "Everyone who helped only has pieces of the puzzle, not knowing who has what. They could never piece it together on their own. I'm the only one who can see all the pieces at once, and found you at the center."
Okabe stared back at Leskinen with hatred. He didn't know what kind of relationship he was supposed to have had with the former professor, but the only memories that he currently had of him was the torture and anguish that he was put through at his hands. He held the knowledge that Leskinen was willing to do anything if it meant personal gain, and he could tell that the man in front of him was probably lying out of his teeth just to make it easier for Okabe to surrender.
"I'll give you a chance to think it over," Leskinen said. "You're not going to get a lot of time, but you can spend five minutes thinking about it while you make my coffee. Does that sound fair? The coffee machine is in a corridor just past Amy's desk, it's not hard to miss. I'l take my coffee with some creamer and two packets of sugar."
Okabe clicked his tongue and backed out of the room, forcing Leskinen to pull his hand back.
The hallway was long enough for Okabe to not be heard by any unwanted listeners. He tapped his ear to cancel out Maho's channel and began speaking to Daru.
"Daru, I want you to wipe all the footage of us ever being here once we exit the hospital," he said. "I don't want any trace that we were ever here."
"But Okarin," Daru responded. "What about the girl at the front desk, and Leskinen-shi?"
"Don't worry about it."
Okabe walked out of the hallway and into the reception area. There, Amy was handing Maho what Okabe could only assume the patient files. By Maho's side were a middle-aged woman and a kid who seemed like he was ready to graduate from college.
"Okabe, are we good to go?" Maho asked. "We're just waiting on you."
"Yeah, give me a second," Okabe said. "Just preparing the Doctor's coffee. It's the least we can do."
Okabe walked past the unassuming group of people and headed for the coffee station.
He placed a mug underneath the coffee machine and pressed the button to allow the machine to start brewing. Okabe pulled his pill bottle out of his pouch.
"Black out the cameras around this area for now, Daru," Okabe ordered.
"Okey-dokey," Daru said. "What are you planning, Okarin?"
Okabe ignored Daru's question and produced a pill out of the bottle. He felt the crease in which the pill was put together and dug his nail into it, trying to split the capsule in two. He got the crack he needed and put the pill over the mug, careful to look up as to not let Daru see what he was doing. He looked behind himself just to make sure no one was watching. He split the capsule in half, allowing the contents to flow into the mug and mix together with the coffee. When the machine finally finished pouring the rest of the coffee, Okabe prepared the rest based off Leskinen's specifications. Finally, he mixed all the contents together to make his tampering of the drink complete.
He knew that doing such a thing to Leskinen was cruel, but Okabe understood that he probably deserved it. The pill would give him amnesia, and its permanence was unknown. He had discussed the pills with Kurisu and she said that it lasts until a strong reminder of what the subject had previously known was made apparent to them; that subject not being disclosed to Okabe whatsoever. He just needed Leskinen to forget everything he had learned about Okabe and Valkyrie so that the Committee wouldn't find out. He wasn't about to allow for the uprooting of what Maho and Kurisu had known all their lives in America because of the knowledge that the former professor had over him.
Okabe approached the front desk, but addressed Maho before he did.
"You all can meet me outside," he said. "I'm just getting this done and that'll be it."
"Are you sure?" Maho asked. "We can wait for you a bit longer."
"Go."
"O-okay..." Maho warily gazed at Okabe before herding the patients toward the elevator. "Send Alexis my regards."
The elevator door shut, leaving Okabe alone with Amy.
"Amy, you've prepared the doctor's coffee before, right?"
"Yes, sir! Just a little bit of creamer and two packets of sugar!"
Okabe placed the mug on the table.
"Tell me," he said. "Is this too much creamer?"
Amy grabbed the mug, took a sip, then placed it back down on the table that she acquired it from. Okabe silently watched her reaction as she pursed her lips to try and get the full taste. Moments later he could hear her gasp and put her hand up to her forehead.
"I'm... sorry," she said. "I just got a pretty bad head-"
The gasp turned into a moan of pain, and before long she was ready to scream. Okabe hurriedly placed his hands over her mouth to stifle the scream. He could feel the tears that flowed down her cheeks at the pain that was splitting her head before she slumped over her desk, unconscious.
"O-Okarin!" Daru exclaimed. "What happened?!"
"I'll tell you later," Okabe said before grabbing the coffee and headed toward Leskinen's office.
The door slid open, allowing Okabe in. Leskinen was sitting on the chair, typing something into the computer before turning toward Okabe, leaving his job half-done. Okabe walked in, getting the door to close behind him automatically.
"I take it you've thought about it?"
"Yes," Okabe said as he handed Leskinen the spiked coffee. "I'll do what you ask."
"Good," Leskinen took the coffee and drank two big gulps almost immediately. "I'm glad you've taken that choice, Rintaro. Lord knows I'd hate to report you to the Committee."
"Yeah," Okabe said trying to bide his time. "This isn't for me. This is for Kurisu and Maho to be able to live their lives as normally as possible."
"What a noble thought," Leskinen continued before furrowing his brow and looking at his coffee before looking back at Okabe. "...Did you...ugh..."
Leskinen nearly dropped his coffee, but Okabe caught his arm and took it out of his hand before the mug fell to the floor. The doctor collapsed to the floor, grabbing his head and screaming as loud as his lungs allowed. The floor was totally empty so Okabe let him scream, and he relished in it all. While the doctor was doing that, Okabe peered over at the computer. He noticed that he was working on an email to send to the Committee.
Nothing to report, it read. The patients have gone out of my hands to two very capable individuals at Victor Chondria. They will send me the results when they're done with their testing.
Nowhere in the email was a mention of Okabe's identity as the Phoenix. Okabe looked at the email address and made sure that Daru caught it.
"Record that," he said. "I want to know who that is."
"Okey-dokey..." Daru said with less motivation.
Seeing what was happening to Leskinen and Amy probably made Daru hesitant about Okabe's orders, but Okabe hoped he could understand what was being done.
"They're not dying, Daru," he tried comforting the hacker. "Their memories of this day are just being removed."
"Don't tell me," Daru said in disbelief. "You used your Reading Steiner pill on them, didn't you?! You mixed it into his coffee?!"
Daru seemed angry.
"Okarin! We don't know how far back their memories will be removed! Are you seriously okay with tampering with someone's head like that?! I could possibly forgive using it on Leskinen, but Amy-chan?! She's totally innocent!"
"Calm down," Okabe ordered. "They took it in a small dose. Their memories won't be removed as far back as you think. Just enough for Leskinen to forget his mission to find out who I am and his purpose here while Amy just doesn't remember anything of this day."
"I'm still not okay with this..." Daru said.
"I know you aren't," he responded. "Just please, calm down in the meantime and take in all the info we need."
Okabe fished through the now unconscious doctor's pocket and grabbed his already unlocked phone. He flipped through the recent call list and was surprised to find out that Leskinen never called anyone. The fact that he never heard a voice finally clicked into place. Leskinen was behind it all. He was in charge of overseeing the patients from the beginning. This wasn't a favor from a friend, this was an attempt to lure Okabe into his trap and force him to conform to what the Committee wanted out of Leskinen.
He placed the phone back into the doctor's pocket. Memories of the Beta Attractor Field began surfacing. All that was in his mind was when Mayuri disappeared with Suzuha in the time machine and his total hopelessness. He remembered when the machine couldn't take off in time and was blown up in the process, forcing him to time-leap. In response to it all, he downed the rest of the coffee, trying to get rid of it all. Moments later, his vision and hearing cleared.
"You good to go now, Okarin?" he heard Daru ask.
"Yeah," he said.
Okabe made his way to the door. "Maho sends her regards, Alexis."
He walked back to the front desk where Amy was still unconscious. He grabbed the paperwork that showed that LA County General was transferring the patient rights over to Victor Chondria, erasing the last couple physical traces that he was ever present in the building. He took off his labcoat and folded it over the papers, covering them and removing the inconspicuousness that he presented himself with before walking toward the elevator and pressing the button to head to the first floor lobby.
At this point, Okabe was happy. He finally got to make his torturer suffer just as much as he was forced to suffer. He never gave thought to just how important the professor probably was to his past self as well as Maho and Kurisu, and happily whistled to himself instead. What he had done was out of pure instinct and cold-heartedness that emerged from World War III than it was rational thinking that should come with living in the Steins Gate World Line.
The elevator dinged, signaling his arrival to the first floor. He walked out into the lobby and out of the hospital, papers in hand.
Operation Vanir was complete, and Okabe was able to revel in the satisfaction that was giving Leskinen a taste of his own medicine.
He saw the car that Kurisu had brought them in and headed toward it, walking across the parking lot with the most confident step he had ever since arriving on the world line.
"Footage wiped," Daru said. "No one from the outside will ever know you visited the hospital."
"Good."
Okabe entered the front of the car, leaving Maho in the back with the two patients.
"How'd it go?" Kurisu asked.
"It went perfectly fine," Okabe responded. "I'll tell you more about it once we get home."
Kurisu nodded and started the car. Okabe rested his head back into the seat and sighed a satisfied sigh. The mission was complete, and that was all that mattered to him at that current moment.
A/N: Whew! That was a long one - actually, that was my longest yet! It was finally one of those plot-filled chapters that I'm sure you guys were waiting for. Well, what do you think? It's a moral dilemma, and Okabe walked right into it. Was he in the right to drug Leskinen the way he did, even though the Beta Attractor Field never happened? Should Okabe's suffering at Leskinen's hand in Beta have any influence on how he treats the professor on the Steins Gate World Line?
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. I had fun writing it, from the flashback to finally diving deep into the war-hardened character that is the current Okabe. I gotta express my thanks to DapperT for helping me make the flashback roll as smoothly as it did, without him, it probably wouldn't sound as good as it does.
As always, thank you all for following this story! It really does mean a lot! Don't hesitate to write a review either, I want to know what you guys think!
Regards,
Quil~