Envoy of the Beginning
Disclaimer: I do not own Elfen Lied or any of the characters associated with it.
"talking"
Thoughts
Synopsis: What constitutes as the worse act of human kind? There are simply too many to say as each atrocity were as bad as the next. Although most don't wish to admit it, after thousands of years of evolution we have still not learned from our mistakes as we are still committing these evils.
So one must wonder, is it possible for people to become better?
Atrocity
~ Unknown place ~ (unknown time)
". . . . Uhh" Kohta groaned as his head was pounding like crazy. He wasn't sure what had happened as everything about him was hurting. For both his body and mind felt beyond exhausted. But trying to open his eyes, his vision was blurred as he tried to adapt to his surroundings. However it was dark and the only thing he could tell was some sort of bumping sensation occurring every once in a while.
But finally coming too, the youth realized he couldn't move. His entire body was bolted down with clamps insuring he couldn't even twitch. However what really got his attention was the scent that hung in the air. It was a mixture of smells consisting of something pungent, metallic, and rotting.
This was the smell of death.
Finally adjusting to the dark, he realized he was covered in blood, entrails, and machine oil. It was almost gagging with how horrible it smelled. But trying to recall, he didn't know why he was like that. "What happened?"
"No idea".
Recognizing the voice, "Kiri?" asked Kohta. "Is that you?"
"Yeah" he answered back.
"What happened?" the youth groggily asked. "Where are we?"
"Don't know. From what I can tell the children and adults were separated into two groups. It seems for a while now we've been sedated".
"But with the way we've been bobbing around . . . . Are we on a boat?"
"It seems so" Kiri answered.
"Hey!" Kohta called out. "Who is here with us?" to which friends and other kids in the community answered back. "Hold on, let me see if I can get myself out of this". But trying to summon his vectors, Kohta could barely materialize them before they faded off.
"Don't bother" Kiri sighed. "Our containment seems to be lined with vector cancelers negating psychic abilities. Trust me, I've been trying for a while now as was everyone else". Fidgeting for a bit, "by the way, something smells pretty awful in here. Is that you? Are you OK?"
"I . . . . I'm not sure . . . ." as Kohta tried to remember what happened. He was still drawing blanks recalling the sequence of events to how he even ended up on this boat. But pulling back to the last thing he remembered, there was a lot of screaming. But then . . . . But then . . . . " . . . . No". With his face reflecting absolute dread, his heart felt completely crushed. "Dad . . . . Mom . . . ." as tears escaped his eyes. Feeling choked up in his throat, the rest came flooding back. His body felt cold as he wanted to throw up. In his outrage, he had killed so many people. Though they were the aggressors, it left a foul taste in his mouth at how many lives he had claimed.
"Kohta?" Kiri asked. "Are you OK?"
But remembering a stray thought, the youth recalled the last thing his mother told him. "Karin! Are you here?! Karin!" However no answers were given to his outcry.
"If she isn't here it's a good sign she might have been able to escape" Kiri answered trying to cheer up his friend.
". . . . Or she might have been killed" Kohta responded back pessimistically giving shallow breaths as so many deaths were fresh in his mind.
"You can't think like that!" Kiri shouted startling his friend and the kids around him. "We have to hope that if they aren't here then they must have been able to escape! It's what we have to hope for . . . . It's all we can hope for . . . ."
Then silence took hold as there was nothing more to say. However they all knew Kiri had a point. They weren't all there with them as siblings and friends were missing amongst them. As bleak as things looked, they needed to hope as it was the only sliver of light they had right now.
~ Unknown place ~
Finally arriving at their destination the doors to their holding areas were opened.
Being marched out in chains, they felt the cold night air. Since the time of their capture, they had no idea how much time had passed exactly. They've been deprived of sight and sound as days could of easily passed without them really knowing. With how famished they were, that could of well been the case.
Looking around, it was easy to see they were on some island in the middle of an ocean. The only form of civilization they could see was the detainment facility that laid in their wake.
Although the idea crossed some of their minds to try and make an escape, most of them were too fatigued to fight. But also the fact that as they were being marched to the facility, an army of soldiers were there to receive them as they were fully equipped to start a war with a small country. Even if they managed to break away, the only way off the island was by boat. More then likely they would've been sunk before they made it a hundred meters away.
So they had no choice but to comply.
Going in single filed line, they were processed. Having there arm sleeves ripped off, they were put through a check in. With technicians and armed guards around, they were forced to place there arm on a platform as a menacing machine hovered over them. As a bright red light shined a humming sound was heard as it heated up. Within moments a laser was shot out as the energized particles burned a bar-code on etching numerical identifiers. For it burned so deep that it didn't just stop at the skin. It seared right through the muscle into the bone that short of cutting off their arm, they'd never be rid of it. This was a very painful process as it felt like someone stuck a hot knife into them giving it a good twist.
Hearing the cries of children, technicians and guards were trained to ignore them.
Then after processing was done, they were needed to be cleaned. Forced to strip, they stood in a line naked as they were hosed down with mixtures of sterilizing agents and cold water. Then soon enough they were redressed in medical gowns as a strange collar was strapped around their necks.
After this was done, they were all hoarded into a large room as bright lights were shined down on them. However they could still make out the walk way above as it was shielded off with glass. With several people dressed as scientists and military talking amongst themselves, a seemingly high ranking man took up a microphone.
"Hello children and welcome to my detention facility. You will all be guests here till a time we choose to let you leave. Now I don't care much for long chatter so I'll cut straight to the point. Treat this facility as my house. You disobey or misbehave there will be consequences as we will not hesitate to kill you on the spot. As you should have noticed by now, this entire facility in lined with vector cancelers. However we are not without our extra precautions. For those collars wrapped around your necks are very powerful explosives which also double as EEG devices. So any attempt to use your psychic abilities will result in them becoming armed and exploding in exactly thirty seconds unless we disarm them. However we also reserve the right to arm them ourselves" as he clicked a button.
Down below a beeping sound was heard as a bomb became active as a boy reached up to his collar. Eyes spread open in terror, he felt his body grow weak as panic then set in. Soon screams became apparent below.
"It's a pity that I have to kill one of you. But as with my dog, it's best to teach by example so you'll all know just how serious I am".
Hysteria then took hold as there was nothing they could do but watch their friend die. They couldn't summon their vectors to either shield themselves or disarm the bomb in fear of activating their own. Like a terrible game of tag, they had no choice but to avoid him. If they got to close they too would get caught up in the blast and be injured or killed themselves.
"Please! Anyone! Help me!" the boy cried out streaming tears only to get fearful looks as no one dared approach him. Completely breaking down, he collapsed to the floor in complete despair. "Please" he sniffled, ". . . . Anyone".
". . . . Damn it!"
Looking up, "Kohta . . . ." the boy whispered.
Running right up to him, the youth couldn't allow another of his friend's to die. Feeling his heart pounding in his chest, their was no denying he was scared out of his mind. However he had already lost too much, he was not going to lose anymore. With vector cancelers inhibiting him, he pushed his focus to his highest limit as the invisible hands struggled grasping the collar from both sides trying to rip it off. But just as warned, his collar to activated.
Reacting just half a second later, Kiri was ready to help only to see his best friend act first. But now seeing him in trouble, the poise boy threw caution to the wind running out and attempted to rip his collar off.
In situations like this, it only took a moment of bravery to light the flame of courage. Like dominoes, they jumped in one after another to save each other.
From there, looks of surprise were given as every bomb down there was activated.
"Those damn suicidal freaks".
"Ugh, this will be a mess to clean up".
"Sir, we can't lose this many test subjects at once. It will greatly compromise our time table".
Watching the countdown clock as it was on it's last ten seconds, the warden gave an annoyed sigh as he had no choice but to disable the explosives.
With the beeping down below stopped, the children gave cheers and hugs of relief at not being killed.
"Th . . . . Thanks Kohta" the boy squeaked out.
"It's alright" the youth calmly said back.
But in the next moment, the beeping began again on the boy's collar then held a solid screech as it was going to explode.
"Kohta! Get back!" Kiri shouted grabbing his friend.
Before anyone knew it, the explosive ignited decapitating the boy as his blood then sprayed out like fountain splashing those in his vicinity. Soon enough his body fell to the ground with his head rolling amongst his shocked and terrified friends.
Seeing this happen, Kohta's eyes stretched wide in horror as he couldn't believe it. Another friend had died and he was powerless to do anything about it. Allowing this terrible feeling to sink in, ". . . . Ahh!" he cried out in sorrow as did many others as another one of them was lost.
"Let this serve as a warning" the warden spoke out. "I really don't care if you live or die under my watch. But given the chance I will kill you all if you even so look at me funny. Soon you will all understand how things are run around here".
~ The facility ~ (unknown time)
On the outside and as far as the rest of the world was concerned, their location was a specialized detention facility used to hold diclonius.
But if anyone did enough digging, a very discreet paper trail could be found funded by government and military for the express purpose of illegal human experimentation.
With the secret meeting held by the higher ups of the world, these experimentation now had a full monetary and discreet political backing. These humans needed to find a more effective method of fighting diclonius. Thus heavy research was done in biological, chemical, and technological warfare. Any means that could fight a psychic.
However in Japan, a very interesting find was made in a young boy.
Gathered amongst a group of scientists, they discussed the initial military report.
"Are these results correct? Did he actually overwhelm the vector cancelers?"
"These power outputs can't be right. He should be dead after this much usage".
"But camera footage confirmed it. That brat alone fought the JSDF for several hours before passing out".
"Could he actually be a direct line from subject zero?"
At such an inquiry, they were excited at such a prospect. Concerning diclonius, they were lucky they were able to salvage Kakuzawa's research from his second laboratory that heavily dealt with vectors. However for the primary lab that was sunk underneath the ocean, they were only able to scrape together some bits and pieces concerning genetic research. Of what they were able to learn, the entire diclonius race started with one woman. With how fragmented their information was, they only knew bits and pieces about her.
However they did know two concrete things about this diclonius queen. First were her powers as she would be the strongest of her kind. That was evident after an entire city was flattened in some dispute between her some other psychic. The other was her distinctive genetic 'superiority' in comparison to her counterparts. After years of mapping silpelit D.N.A., they were able to find key genes which identified them as such even after the genetic patch. But for the queen herself, her genetic knowledge had incredible complexity.
But there was never any known record of her having an offspring. For the most common belief was that she died without having an heir. However there was always a slight possibility that somewhere a direct bloodline might have been out there somewhere. One of which had been very careful at evading there searches. If one chose to believe a bit in conspiracy theories, someone had been dutiful at destroying any record that might have had any connection to this diclonius queen.
If they were right about the precious gem that had landed in their possession, what they could learn was limitless as they had a lot of work a head of them.
~ The facility ~ (unknown time)
It was easy to lose a sense of time when in captivity. There were no clocks nor could they see the outside. So they had no idea how much time was passing by. But all they did know was what was happening in the here and now. Led into a room, Kohta saw several of his friends in the room with him. It seemed pretty small. But with how many were here it was unlikely a cell. More then likely, this was some sort of waiting room of sorts. But for what exactly? They didn't know. Spotting Kiri, "hey you OK?"
"Yeah" Kiri answered. "I just have a bad feeling about what's going to happen next".
Soon enough, technicians with armed guards began filtering in. Separating into groups, they each had hand scanners as it's laser passed over the bar-codes in their arm's. From there each child was taken to destinations unknown.
Being forced down a hallway, Kohta was being jabbed as the guard repeatedly blunted him with his rifle to make sure he was moving along. "What's going on? Where are you taking me?" Without a word they continued along until they arrived to what appeared to be a surgical room. Forced onto the table, he was strapped down as all he could see was the ceiling and lights shining down on him. However he could still hear what they were talking about.
"Why can't we do an exploratory surgery? We would learn things faster this way".
"With a very high chance of killing the subject. We need him alive for as long as possible. His very existence might carry the answers to how we can deal with the diclonius threat permanently".
"Then why not just clone him? Make many copies. So even if we mess up we have another one at our disposal".
"After decades of research, our cloning process is still imperfect. Each clone made will still suffer from diminishing returns as they won't be as potent as the original. At best, they're just useful test dummies when we need to run a dangerous experiment".
"Great, so we've been limited to what we can do".
"Nothing that permanently damages him. If he dies on our watch or becomes unusable, our ass's will be on the slab. So we first need to confirm if he's the real deal. If so, he's been tagged as top priority. But if not, just throw him back with the rest of the test subjects".
"Alright, first things first. We'll need to collect samples". Pulling up a cart was an assortment of tools composed of syringes and drills.
After extracting some of his blood, "will we be using anesthetics for collecting marrow and spinal fluids?"
"Don't bother. It's troublesome to sedate them every time. Besides they'll pass out soon enough as the procedure starts".
Hearing what they were about to do, Kohta struggled in his restraints. "Please! Please don't do this!" he pleaded. However his cries fell on deaf ears as the technicians continued to work undeterred. Not wanting to hear him any longer, they strapped a gag over his mouth.
With a rather large needle, the youth felt the cold steel press against his nape as it slowly pushed in piercing his skin and muscle tissue. That's when he really felt it as the needle had entered his spine. The pain was beyond imaginable as he wanted to convulse screaming at the top of his lungs. But he couldn't even do that as he was gagged while he tried futilely to rip himself from his restraints. However as the technician had stated, the pain had completely overwhelmed his senses as he soon passed out.
~ The facility ~ (unknown time)
". . . . Ugh" Kohta groaned awake. But slowly as his senses started to come back, he knew he was in pain. He couldn't quite tell where he was hurting just that he didn't want to move. But getting his baring, he was laying on his stomach against a cold floor. So being careful, he rolled onto his back which sent a shock wave of pain as they exited through his fingers and toes. But something he could easily manage. Opening his eyes, he soon sat up as he slowly adjusted himself to the stinging sensation he felt all over. Looking over himself, several parts of his body were bandaged.
"Finally awake . . . . huh?"
"Kiri?" at recognizing his voice. Seeing the entirety of the room, his eyes were wide in shock and horror. All his friends were in a variety of states. But if this was the same waiting room as before then there were quite a few who were missing. Then seeing the state of his best friend, "what happened? Are you OK? Where is everyone else?" Trying to rush to his friend, he fell flat of his face as his body was still hurting from whatever those technicians did.
". . . . Trust me . . . . It's not as bad as it looks" Kiri chuckled trying to lighten to mood.
But looking at his friend, there was a scar stretching from his shoulder to his chest. ". . . . What did they do to you?"
"Experimented on . . . ." Kiri breathed out as he rested on the wall. "However . . . . You and I . . . . We were far luckier by comparison . . . ."
It was sadly true. Several different experiments were being done all over the facility from experimental weapons to human medical practices. Looking around to all his friends, he couldn't even come close to imagining what had happened to them as their faces reflected terror and dread.
There were no correct words to describe the misery they had to go through with how they were bandaged. Some were even missing an eye, hands, feet, or even their entire arms and legs.
But as much as Kohta wanted to console them, it was simply too horrible to speak of. With the bomb collars around their necks they couldn't communicate telepathically. This made it all the more worse at how isolated they now felt. Checking over his friends one by one, he noticed one of his female friends sitting in the back corner in the fetal position with her head buried in her arms.
But as the youth tried to talk to her, "No!" the girl screamed facing away from him as she wrapped herself protectively in her arms.
Shocked at her outburst, Kohta stumbled back. Considering the state they were all in, she looked the most healthy by comparison. As he was going to try to talk to her once more, he then saw it. Although not obvious initially, he noticed small details about her state of being. Bruised skin, ruffled cloths, and slight bleeding at her legs.
Kohta had no idea what had happened. But being in her presence, it didn't take a psychic to know that whatever they did to her . . . . It was unspeakable. Thus he dared not try to push it.
So sitting back with Kiri, Kohta's expression was weary before it turned to desolation. If there really was such as thing as hell on Earth then they definitely found it. During this time, he wasn't certain what it was. But no matter where he was, he could feel vibrations echoing throughout the walls and floor. Pressing his ear and listening carefully, it became all to clear.
It was the cries of agony that shook the halls of their prison. How many were suffering within these walls? What kind of torture were his kind forced to go through? There was no way he could conceivably know. But taking a moment to calm his mind, "Kiri . . . ."
"Yeah?"
"We can't die . . . . Not in here . . . . Not like this . . . ."
"I don't think we have much of a choice. Our psychic abilities are completely useless here".
". . . . I have an idea. Something we can build that will get us out of here".
"Heh heh I don't know what they did to you Koh, but I think you're forgetting something kind of important".
". . . .?"
"We don't have any materials to build with. Without the telepathic network, we won't be able to coordinate our movements. But the most important thing is, even if we manage to get out of here we'd still be stuck on the island in the middle of god knows where".
"I know" Kohta said solemnly. "But there is only one of two ways we're leaving here. Escape or in a body bag".
"Well can't argue with that" as Kiri gave a thoughtful look. "Our chances of dying increases the longer we stay here. So we really got nothing to lose at this point. So what's the plan Koh?"
Calmly thinking it over, ". . . . It'll take some time. But if everything goes right with a bit of luck on our side, we can escape this place altogether".
To be continued . . . .
Author's notes: Hope this chapter was OK and now onto some commentary.
Still trying to balance out the maturity level of my characters. They are all still kids around the age of seven after all. However they also possess a great deal of knowledge which makes each of them quite intelligent for their age. So it's all a bit of fine tuning in nailing down a kind of balance between being childish yet mature.
I didn't want to go into graphic details of the more cruel experiments being done for two reasons. First, I would need to adjust the rating to 'M'. Second, I don't have the heart to go into detail about what horrors these children are going through. It's simply too sad to explain. But hopefully it's clear enough what these kids are going through.
So I thank you for reading and I further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.