A/N: Welcome to the first of the three final chapters of this story. We've come to the end of the road folks, so thanks for joining me on this journey. As always I do not own To Love-Ru, Black Cat, Mayoi Neko Overrun, or the song Gardens. Also, fair warning of graphic description, not for the faint of heart. Looks like we lost the comedy, folks!
Earth
"We need to talk," Otome Tsuzuki states to the twin princesses and the others present in Mikado-sensei's clinic, "But not here..." She stops the others from following, after singling Momo and Nana. "I'm afraid this is a private conversation," the woman in silver dress clothes informs the rest, while holding up her hand, "The princesses of Deviluke have... personal investment, that requires me to bring them to my superiors." The two princesses follow her out of the clinic, after explaining the situation to the others, Miss Tsuzuki began to explain a bit more about what was going on.
"The Unified Lateral Taskforce Regulating Aliens, or Ultra, is an organization that has been dedicated to the preservation of human culture amid a massive influx of alien refugees, ever since the infamous and highly classified 'Roswell Incident' the American's had over a half a century ago," Otome explains, as she takes the twin Deviluke sisters with her into a silver van, "When it was recognized that alien immigration was going to become a worldwide problem, many separate states attempted to create various organizations to combat and deal with extra terrestrial threats." She begins to start up the car, as the two princesses buckle themselves into the car. "Until sometime twenty or so years ago, U.L.T.R.A., in its infancy, was formed as a unified, global effort under the direction and supervision of another group that policed such extra galactic threats..." Otome informs the two.
"The Galactic Police?" Nana asked, as she looked skeptically at the woman, who had left Doctor Mikado's house to begin driving to yet another location, "Don't get me wrong, they're fairly competent in keeping people locked up, but I couldn't imagine them interfering in local affairs, especially, and no offense, of a Class-S planet like Earth...". Otome didn't respond, merely smiled as she continued to focus on her driving, as they approached the city of Sainan itself.
"Not quite, while we've recently had more civilized dealings with their immigration department, it was a representative of another group, one our benefactor had to cut ties with after it suddenly went dark some time afterwards, that we benefited from," Otome replies, "They've actually had an eye on our planet for quite some time, in fact they had actually classified our planet as Class-S to ward people off for years that way, because of how much cultural contamination our planet has actually had over the centuries..."
"Centuries?" Momo states in shock and disbelief, "Earth was barely considered to be civilized within the past half a century, what use could Earth have ever brought to alien visitors when its understanding of electricity barely peaked in the 1800's." Her skeptical gaze crossed with her sisters was proof that neither sister believed her story.
"Did your sister ever tell you about the time she dug a sprawling tunnel complex under Sainan, all in search of a natural Hot Springs?" Otome asks casually, much to the shock of he sisters, who had heard of the embarrassing incident from a few of Rito's own classmates, as well as their sister, though they knew no one else should know of it. Otome just chuckled and laughed off their stares, as she turned off the busy road, towards their final destination in downtown Sainan. "Well, she discovered, and promptly buried, a few ancient secrets; fragments of which we were able to retrieve after the chaos settled down from tapping into the molten core of the planet, and what we found showed us that Earth has been the sight of past alien interference for centuries, perhaps even millennia," Otome states, "Stories of an ancient city called Atlantis, an underground civilization of 'mole' men, a literal empire made up of dinosaurs... all of it was too crazy to really understand, until we found evidence of something ancient...". Finally pulling over to a stop, in front of Sainan High School of all places, both Nana and Momo realizes that the Tsuzuki sister had basically driven them in a large, complex route to go somewhere relatively close to Rito's house just by walking.
"Why are we here?" Nana asked, as Otome doesn't even stop to enter the main school grounds, and continues on around to the back, "Why are you wasting our time, going to this school... no, no way, not that death trap!" Nana's sudden objection would have seemed warranted, as Otome led the girls towards the rickety, old, wooden building that inhabited the old school grounds: the original Sainan School building.
"The building is safe, I can assure you nothing is wrong with it," Otome states to the two sisters, as she heads onwards into the death trap of a school that Shizu had once called her resting place, "It was the perfect place to hide something when the Murasame family had the school restored, after you kids destroyed it in your fight with Miss Lunatique, err- that is, Yami." Nana and Momo both look unsure, but follow the strange girl into the dark.
Once inside the building it looked virtually the same as before, until she took them both to an abandoned and empty looking supply closet, which had nothing but a few spare planks of wood, a hammer, a bucket and some nails inside of it, as she opened the door to the small room. "Come on," she said, motioning them inside the cramped closet, "This is just the entrance, the main site is underneath your school." As the two stepped inside and Otome closed the door, plunging them all into the darkness, the two waited with baited breath as they just stood there in the dark.
"Ok, this is just ridiculous," Nana states, after two minutes of standing there in the dark, as she crosses her arms with a huff, "If you're going to lie and make fun of us, you might as well...". Before she could continue with that line of thought, a sudden burst of blue light lit up the room, as the warm feeling of a sensor grid washed over them, scanning the room for a few moments, before plunging the room into the dark yet again. A sudden shift of weight and boards fell away, as the floor opened up beneath them and they descended while standing upon a disguised elevator, as the wooden floor closed up over them and returned the illusion to the closet. As they descended in a sleek, metal shaft with lighting, it showed that it was obviously built using advanced technology supplied by aliens of some kind. They hit the end of the line as they were lowered to the bottom of the shaft, while ahead of them the lights extended into another tunnel that continued on a ways forward.
"Welcome to U.L.T.R.A. HQ's new Sainan Division," Tsuzuki states with pride, as they walk up to a pair of shiny, steel doors that open up to reveal a monitor hub filled with screens and technology at the touch of ones fingertips, "Since this town seems to have become trouble central, ever since Mr. Yuuki got himself invested with a foreign power, HQ has decided to make sure this place is here to fix up your town, even if it means that that help is from the shadows." Nana and Momo look around at the various human beings in silver threaded work attire, suits made of reflective, space age material one would expect to be made of some form of tin foil.
"What's with the suits?" Momo asks, as they walk past men and women sitting at computers, working away while observing various monitoring instruments, "I mean, I've heard of Ultra from our father, but I never knew the reason why he called you guys 'silverfish', was because you took the color thing this seriously...". The young Ms. Tsuzuki laughed a bit at that response, but guided them both to a separate room where they could chat.
Entering into the room, a long wooden table surrounded by chairs could be seen, with Otome motioning for the pair to take a seat, she herself stood at attention by the door. Before either sister could question why this was, yet another figure stepped into the room and hung a large blue army coat with gold epaulets on a rack, and turned to reveal that he a large man that looked to be in his late thirties, to early forties.
The man was dressed in clothes unlike the others, and though this could have been a reflection of his status in the organization, the man simply smiled as he took a seat at the head of the table, while Otome took the chair to his right after closing the door. He was dressed in blue slacks that matched the color of the jacket, he also wore a purple dress shirt, with a strangest looking black and orange tie that stood out on his figure. His blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his blue eyes were kind and creased at the edges with laugh lines. "Second princess Nana Astar Deviluke, third princess Momo Belia Deviluke; I welcome you both to Sainan's new Ultra Headquarters," he states, as he leans forward with a smile and a large paw to shake each princesses hand in turn, "I am Director Rochefort, the liaison between Earth and the Stars, former second in command of..."
"The Chronos Numbers, Number II," Momo supplies, interrupting his introduction, "I was told that Earth's benefactor may not be human, but to think he was also once the second in command of the fallen organization, Chronos... I was led to believe Number Twelve, or Kuro as we know him, was the last surviving member of that organization...". The director merely smiles in reply, as he nods along with her story.
"That- is a very long and complicated story, to be sure, and also one I am a bit ashamed to admit is mostly my fault for propagating it as being valid," Director Rochefort states in reply, as he casts his eyes downward to the table, "I had believed my predecessor, one of the Elders of Chronos, had the best intentions when he brought that madman into our organization as a prisoner...". He closes his fist tightly, to the point both Nana and Momo think the man is going to bleed from his hand from the pressure. "But I cannot stay in the past," Rochefort states, as he looks up towards the two princesses, "And I have invited you both here, today, to inform you of the capture of the man who has caused both myself, your friends, and sister problems." Both Nana and Momo's eyes went wide at that, as the director stood to motion them over to a window to another room, whereupon they noticed a man in a white doctor's coat, cuffed to a table inside.
"He actually gave himself up, about an hour before we sent junior ambassador Tsuzuki to retrieve you," Rochefort states, as he turns to the two princesses with a serious look, "As he was a prisoner of your father, and he technically hasn't committed any crimes on Earth, as of yet, we will be forced to turn him over to the Galactic Police Department's extradition department, unless you two know of a way to get in contact with your father the Emperor...". Nana spoke up now.
"Perhaps more than that, we can give you reason to hold him until both Galactic Police and/or Devilukean Space Navy could retrieve him," she states, as she gives a dirty look to the man sitting on the opposite side of the window, a stare of contempt, "We believe he attacked both a friend of ours in Sainan, and one in a public school in lower Shurufuku; earlier today, in fact." At that the Director's brow furrowed and creased as his face turned into a frown with that information.
"I'm afraid I don't know how that could be possible, ladies, considering Shurufuku is a full hour away, at least during mid morning traffic hours," the director responds, "We picked him up in Sainan earlier this afternoon, around lunchtime, when he turned himself in to our agents." He then walks over to a video monitor and brings up footage of Shurufuku High, from a nearby traffic camera. "We have checked video cameras that show us his location entering on a bus headed from Shurufuku this afternoon, towards Sainan," the director continues, as he fast forwards to another video, showing the Doctor exiting the bus at a later time stamp, "and he did not have any warp particles anywhere on his body, so he can't have transferred from the bus to the pastry shop and back, without massive warning signals on our end." At that both Nana and Momo were perplexed at that, as they knew that the Doctor had left from Shurufuku at lunch time, but had also appeared at the Stray Cat Patisserie when Yui was attacked as well, and only a half hour or so later at that point in time.
"It's not unfeasible that the Doctor could have made it there in time for both, since you could have lost track of him between Shurufuku and here," Nana states, crossing her arms as she looks to the side, into the room where the Doctor was being held, "It wouldn't be hard for such a man to fake his own warp trail, too, he could have something on his person skewing the read outs as well." The director nods, but puts a hand on the window as he turns to the princesses.
"We don't know for sure, but we could ask him what he knows; using all we can learn, we can corroborate that with both witness testimony and street cameras," the director states with a sigh, "But until he speaks, we have very little to go on." It was at that point that Nana was fed up with everything going on, that she eyed the door, and then kicked it in.
The Doctor didn't even react to the outburst, simply sat there smiling, as the Devilukean Princess marched straight up to him, grabbing him by the collar. She lifted him up, though not far as the rattling of the chains of his handcuffs keeping him on a short leash were heard and seen as she did so, Nana snarling at him all the while. "Confess, you were the one who attacked our friend, in Shurufuku, right?" Nana asked, yet more so insinuated, of his guilt in that act, before slamming him back down into his seat, "You were the one who also attacked our other friend at a coffee shop in broad daylight, weren't you!" Momo burst in on her tirade, grabbing her older sister and holding her back, as the Doctor tried to unruffled his shirt and rub the marks from his neck at her rough treatment of him.
"I'm afraid not, Princess; 'I' came here because that nut-job has come back to finish his botched assassination!" the 'Doctor' replied, as he frowned at the stronger tomboy and the more demure sister, "I didn't attack any student in Shurufuku, but if that man with my face had taken my place by posing as me, I wouldn't put it past him to have attacked a student to ruin my teaching career...or my life!" The man looked down into his cuffed hands, sighing as he did so, before looking back up at the two. "You've got to hear me out, I don't know the man, I never even saw him for very long before I hopped on the furthest bus away from Shurufuku," he explains, "I wanted to get here and turn myself in, so I could be somewhere safe and away from that look-a-like!" It was there that Momo stepped forward, pushing Nana back to question the Doctor.
"You said you didn't see him for very long, yet you not only knew he looked like you, but that he had come back, to finish a 'botched' assassination; what do you mean?" Momo states, getting to the point, "You act like you expected to see him again..." Kirizaki Kousuke looks nervous, as he stares between the two princesses, before grabbing the collar of his turtleneck and pulling it down to reveal a four inch scar across his throat.
"I'm no human, I'm an alien refugee from before the Silverfish put up there strict regulations of immigration; I snuck through going on a little over twenty years now, from a garbage pile called Kild," the man says, letting go of the neck of his sweater, "I had managed to obtain a scholarship to a prestigious scientific university that got me out of that armpit and into a real scientific college on a technological paradise, real forefront, bleeding edge kind of technology we had then; but we were still college age kids, we had parties, we stayed late doing projects, things like that..." He absently rubs the scar over his turtleneck, while looking up with a dead eyed expression at the two girls. "I was heading home from the lab, real late at night since I worked on super sensitive nanotechnology, when this guy jumped me in a blind alley," Kousuke explained, "He held a knife to my throat, sliced me up good, and left me for dead after stealing my jacket and my keycard to my lab...but I managed to get a good look at him as I lay there bleeding out..." He clenches his fist, as he gets lost in the memory, much to Nana and Momo's surprise. "He looked like me, damn it all, and he just had this... cold expression; an emptiness, full of disdain towards me, or something like that," he finishes, "He didn't know I had...borrowed an experimental vial of nanites, one I was tweaking for coding purposes against damage to the body, and I managed to use it on myself long enough to patch myself up and skip town real fast." He looks up towards the princess'. "Get lost in a backwater planet like Earth, and everybody assumes your dead, or just as well off..."
Nana found it hard to believe, but it was Momo who voiced her opinion. "So he took your identity, Kirisaki Kousuke, and then what? Helped build a criminal empire just for the laughs, using your own technology?" she states accusingly, as the Doctor just puts his hands down onto the table, and a look of dismay crosses his face, disheartened by her gruff words, "Don't get me wrong, your story may be a bit unbelievable, but how did he know where you worked, and why target my friends, if he was really after you?" The Doctor didn't have any words, but there was a sudden disturbance outside the closed off room, before the door opened and gave way to a flurry of shouts from others, including the director himself, who entered the room along with another.
"-I don't care who you are, Ma'am, but security is security, and you can't just warp into my base and act like it is yours," the Director states, as another, cloaked figure had entered the room, "Everything is under control, so we don't need the Devilukean Space Navy suddenly warping into Earth's satellite range and undoing the illusions and cover-ups we've been delicately recovering from, after King Gid's last intrusion..." The figure stops and turns to look back at the director, to address him directly.
"Not the Devilukean Space Navy, Mister Rochefort, just a single, decommissioned warship from a bygone era," the figure says, removing her hood to reveal a cascade of pink locks, "And what you don't know is that a Galactic Police fleet is being rerouted to Earth, to enact their part in a galaxy spanning conspiracy against Earth, against Deviluke, and possibly against the benefit of the galaxy at large..." Lala Satalin Deviluke brings up her right hand, to reveal the heroes gauntlet, one of the twelve numbered artifacts that Chronos once controlled. "We just don't know how far it spans, or who is involved, but if my family gets caught in the middle of it, I can't be held responsible," Lala states, as she turns to her sisters and grabs them by the arms, "I'm afraid, director, that this discussion will have to be held another day; Kiraki Kousuke is still at large, and as far as I am concerned, he is a threat far greater..." She trails off, as if just now noticing the man in the room with her sisters, before letting both of them go and moving to the opposite of the table the man was sitting at.
"You OK there, princess?" the man who looked like the Doctor stated in concern, "You look like you just lost some important to you..." Lala takes her bare hand and tosses the table aside, much to the Doctor's surprise, as he is forcibly dragged to the floor along with it, hitting his head against the concrete floor.
"You won't win, monster," Lala snarls out, as both of her sisters confusion and Rochefort's desire to step in, grew, "Rito isn't gone, he'll be back or I will go save him, but I promise you thus: you won't get whatever it is you are wanting by playing these games." At that Kirisaki smiled, then flexed and broke the handcuffs, slowly rising to his feet and cracking his neck like it was stiff.
"Quite right," the Doctor says, as he puts a finger to his mouth and pulls out a broken tooth like it was nothing, having cracked from impact with the concrete floor, "I've held you up long enough that my master should have gotten young miss Sairenji's emotional parameters back to his lab..." He smirks, raising his eyes to the three beyond the eldest Princess. "But I'm afraid you're all quite too late to stop my master now," He states, his pupils dilating as he speaks, and the false Kirisaki brings his hands up to his head while doubling over, as if in pain.
"Argggh!"
Digging his fingers into his head, the veins trailing along his skin quickly became black and bulbous, as if they were about to burst from intense pressure suddenly occurring under the surface. His skin ripples, then tears itself apart, exposing muscle and sinew, as he keeps on screaming in agony from the new revelation. Dripping, green liquid, exposed to the air from beneath the sagging flesh mask, a chitinous exoskeleton was revealed, and now yellow slits starred out of a bulbous head that had been freed from the Doctor's smaller form.
Before anyone could react, the whistling sound of something being tossed into motion was heard, as a spear came from out of nowhere and dug itself straight through the exposed, beaked mouth of the creature, as it opened to scream out a gargled roar. Only it was not to be, cut off in a gurgled whimper, once the weapon had done its job of piercing its throat. Lala, Nana, and Momo all looked back at the Director, as he stalked forward to grab his weapon from the insect replicant's body.
"A Gireo infiltrator... damn, I never would have thought they managed to get their cloning program working again..." Director Rochefort states, as he then lops off the head of the warrior while it was laying there on the prone, "Big space cockroaches; these beasts were once an ancient race, or rather it would be more proper to say they were the results of the unfortunate subjects that were subjected to cruel genetic experimentation and augmentation into the perfect monster." The director turned back to the three, a shadow over his face as he speaks.
"Long ago tales spoke of an ancient Host of beings that ravaged worlds in their hunger for power, but they had died out after coming into contact with a species with a certain trait that weakened their immunity and made them susceptible to various galactic diseases," Rochefort folds his hands together, and puts them in front of his face, "Solgam worked to resurrect this species, albeit imperfectly, and created the first batch of Gireo soldiers whom ended up going feral..." He looked briefly over to Lala, then to the gauntlet, before bringing himself to look down at the pile of green sludge left over from the Gireo's decomposing body. "That was the first time King Gid Lucione Deviluke personally intervened in the Galactic War," he states, as he put a hand to his head "It was the loss of ten of Deviluke's own children, kidnapped while the majority of the fleet was away, that drew him into a fight with that race of science-bred killers..."
"Children were kidnapped?" Nana stated, as she looked at her older sister, "Father never told us any of this..." Momo put a hand on her older sister's shoulder, while Lala gripped her fist tighter.
"You likely wouldn't have been told; the King of Deviluke isn't one to show weakness very easily, but the events happened, and even the King's own household was no exception to this horrible crime..." the Director states, as Lala's eyes go wide as she focuses on the director, who showed reprehension as he spoke, "Yes, among the ten children who were experimented on... you Princess Lala, were the only one saved from such a cruel fate by your own father's hands."
"And now we have no clue as to where the real Doctor Kousuke is," Nana states, as she leans and looks over the puddle of goop left behind by the double, "Or what he plans to do with that information he took from Haruna and Yui..." Nana feels Lala's gloved hand rest upon her shoulder, as Momo goes to stand on her other side as well.
"Don't worry, we'll figure it out together," Lala states with confidence, "And when he comes at us with whatever he has up his sleeve, we'll be ready for him!" Behind them, Director Rochefort stands with a hand on his weapon, as he watches the three Devilukean princess strengthen their conviction, as a slight shadow crosses his face.
"Ane-ue, if you're here," Momo speaks up, finally voicing her question, "Where's Rito?"
A tropical island,
A certain companies secret R&D Facility
Now
Kirisaki Kousuke walked behind his junior, as Keize took the data chip from the car's download slots and prepared to archive its information inside the main facilities own data archives. "With this, preparation for the cloning tank will be complete, and we can begin phase two of your operation within the week, sir," Keize states, as he holds open the door to the central control room, where various nondescript scientists and workers were off in their own separate projects and tasks, "Shall I inform you when the new growth has reached infancy, or contact you only upon its peak maturation, so you can prepare the new personality core for transfer of the control codes into a new body?"
The Doctor pauses in his step, weighing his options, he then turns to Keize with a neutral expression. "I will be working in my personal quarters, so do not disturb me under any circumstances," the Doctor orders, as he crosses his arms to stare the younger scientist down, "You may send me an update to my personal computer, and will ensure no one else disturbs me... I've come across something interesting now." Kieze nods as if in understanding, and bows and steps out of the Doctor's way, before turning to watch the older scientist leave for his quarters.
The Doctor finds his room rather quickly, it was the only one down a certain hallway, with a hand scanner and retina scanners. They were simple enough to open, that he then walked into the room, and looked around for his personal computer, before fishing out a thumb drive from his coat pocket and bringing it out into the palm of his hand. Finding it fairly quickly, he opened it up and found the computer not locked, though with the retina scanner, it was a given that security on the personal computer was unnecessary.
It was minutes before he brought the computer online and began digging through the files, before hooking up the thumb drive to begin downloading the contents. The Doctor sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he waited for the files to finish. Programs flashed to life across the screen, as the countdown for download started from 10:00 and began to count down from there. Images and various graphs, some exploring the breakdown of the brain and its emotional centers, cutouts of the reasoning portion of the brain, readings of alpha, beta, and theta waves, functions of REM sleep, and its impact on the growth of a subject. Older files with names like /KIRIYA, NOZOMI/,
/KOTEGAWA, YUI/, /DEVILUKE, LALA /, and the most recent file, downloaded wirelessly it seemed: /SAIRENJI, HARUNA/.
Kirisaki felt a cold chill down his spine, as he read those words, and realized that his time was most likely up. Ripping the thumb drive from the computer, he quickly turned to leave the room, ignoring the state of the computer as it was, only to feel space rip open before him, as a massive, black blade attempted to speared itself through his stomach and out his back. He jumped back, out of reflex, only for yet another gate to open from behind him and succeed, due to lack of control of his momentum from the sudden movement. He bit his tongue in surprise, a splash of red flying from his mouth out of reflex from a sudden urge to cough, as his eyes opened wide in surprise at the figure that was holding the weapon that was impaling him and sticking out of where his heart would be.
"It's almost ironic," the voice that was similar to his own stated in a teasing tone, "I remember stabbing you in the back like this shortly after you tried to do the same to me; I figured you would have been smarter than to ever show your face in front of me again, Doctor." The face of Krisaki Kousuke stared back at his own face, though he seemed to lack the same white jacket that he had been wearing earlier. "I even had to give that stupid quick grown clone my jacket I had kept of yours, so as to throw off the princess' trail of clues as to who is really behind this," the Doctor states to his other self, "When I felt the seal weaken all the way in Talha, I would have figured it would have taken you weeks, maybe days to return..." Blood merely dripped down the First Blade impaled in his chest, as the other Doctor continues to speak with little hesitancy or compassion. "Here you are, attempting to download my schematics and plans, and do what?" he laughs at the others miserable gasps, "I sent the equivalent of a suicide bomber to kill my most valuable piece, and even if you had gotten to them, they would have likely killed you thinking you were another trap."
The Doctor smiled as he pulled the sword out of his back, and dropped it into the pool of blood forming at his feet. "Too bad; I guess you don't get your revenge on me after all..." the Doctor laughed, as his double fell face first to the floor, and then leaned over his body, "Or at least that is what I would like to say to the real Doctor; from one shape shifter to another, it's difficult to replicate a man you haven't really met for real, huh?"
The others eyes went wide at that, before closing in resignation. "No use hiding it, the blade was poisoned with enough static dark energy; it will break your form down in mere minutes," the 'Doctor' states, as the other Kirisaki clutches the wound in his chest, "Or I can force you to show me..." Pulling out a strange item from his pockets, he points it at Kirisaki, and the pained groan and snapping of bones is forcefully heard from the prone form bleeding out.
Blood turning black, pale flesh gaining a darker hue, short hair growing long, and cold pink eyes, become a dazzling gold, as a short, feminine form clad in a black kimono is left there in his place.
"Ah, Nemesis it is, then," the Doctor states with a laugh, as he replaces the object in his concealed pocket, and crosses his arms, "Well, unexpected to be sure; I was hoping you wouldn't have noticed my actions in Sainan..." Through gritted teeth Nemesis looks up at the man who coldly stares back down at her, a bleeding black wound between her ribs, as her body was destabilized by the seemingly highest concentration of energy she had ever received in one attack.
"It was his eyes, if you were wondering," the Doctor absently states at random, as she just stares up at him, leaking her cohesive bodily energy, "One of his eyes are permanently orange...after he scooped it out of the socket of a man who had the power to see seconds into the future, and transplanted it into himself for the same ability." He laughs, his own pink eyes staring down at him as he does so. "I guess that just means we're both fakes, aren't we," the other 'Doctor' stats, leaning down once again to whisper to her, "It's a shame you won't get to see me achieve my goals; you would have been so proud of the chaos that my new 'Zero Numbers' group will soon spread..."
Nemesis struggles to grasp for the poisoned blade, perhaps to swing it at his smug face, perhaps to hasten her own end, but the act is useless as her body goes still and refuses to move.
"Perhaps you will be useful for me in your next life," the 'Doctor' states, though she can no longer see him clearly, as the cold shadows begin to draw over her, "Take her body and the sword to processing; she may prove useful yet." Hearing him state those words, she can't understand whom he is giving those orders too, yet she can feel whomever it is lift her petite body up like a sack of potatoes, before she finally succumbs to the loss of energy as her body begins to shut down.
Minutes later...
"Are preparations ready for phase three?" the Doctor asks Keize, who had finally come back to his bosses personal room, after he was called to take care of the unconscious TRANS Weapon, Nemesis. The alien scientist took an electronic tablet from his hands and gave it to the senior scientist.
"Solgam command station is waiting to hear from you on line two, the new growth has entered fetal stage and is expected to reach peak levels of maturation within a day, thanks in part to the added ability of utilizing Nemesis," Keize reports, as the Doctor goes to look over the presented information he had written up, "Your clone has been discovered and killed, but our insider in the U.L.T.R.A. task force insists we are moving too fast, that he can't keep covering our mistakes like that... Oh, and that apparently the Princess of Deviluke has returned ahead of our expectations, and that she has brought two refitted warships with her." The Doctor hands the tablet back to the younger man, then turns to sigh up at the empty room, before walking over to a certain cabinet.
"Very well, Keize, inform Solgam Command that the Boss can expect the Earth to be his within the hour; they can teleport into the predetermined coordinates without any incident or fear," the Doctor states, as he crosses his hands behind his back, his glasses reflecting the light and shielding his eyes, "Ensure them that their presence in-system is absolutely crucial to Phase Three, and that failure to arrive is tantamount to admitting that the 'Boss' doesn't have any faith in my delivering on my promises to all of you." Opening the cabinet and grabbing two stemmed glasses and a bottle of expensive wine, the Doctor turns back to Keize and hands him one.. "Assure him that his being here will only cement our rule as the grand experiment runs into its final stretch," he states with renewed vigor towards Keize, pouring him a glass of wine after sniffing the cork, "This world full of sinners will soon be left in darkness; to miss it would be to miss savoring the dawning of the end of the Devilukean Empire; the end of the reign of King Gid Lucione Deviluke..."
He takes a sip of the rich, red wine, and looks towards an unsure Keize. "We must all be here to witness the crowning glory of Solgam's tireless efforts," the Doctor states with an appreciative, wicked smile, "The ending of the Grand Experiment shall be something that will be etched into the rest of history... long may it be remembered, as the universe falls into our hands!"
Another place
In a blackened bog, stained with the darkest of blood and desire, a corpse twitched in the water and reeds before sinking into the watery ink. Swiftly and surely, a sword was impaled through the bloated body; a blonde figure then removed and wiped the blood off of his stained blade. "Not even worth it," the boy stated, as he stared down at the corpse, "It was too bad that you tried to use my own power against me, otherwise you might have had a chance..." Looking up into the sky above, he realized that something beyond the physical veil had been calling to him, as he felt the pull of the manufactured world lessen and turn into a push, hurrying him along.
It seems he would have his chance at escaping this world sooner than he had expected. Adam smiled, there was a new mission for him now: to ensure the creation of a new Eve. Wiping a bit of blackened blood from the side of his mouth, Adam took the blade and absorbed it within himself, storing its power inside his own body. It would have its use soon enough in the other world. But now he had to turn his attention elsewhere.
In his free hand a red orb materialized, the leftovers of the Eve-simulacrum's digital body, her usefulness for this phase ending as she was reduced to a simple chain of commands and bits. What it represented was the consciousness of a new Eve, a newly reformed, blank slate awaiting his commands and implantation into its desired receptacle, a better version than the one that had been flawed and rebellious. This Eve's physical, emotional, and moral patterns would be based off of a new, incorrupted source. She would obey her master totally, following his commands obediently, just as all prior Eve-class programs before her had done for the regular Adam-class programs; before his own assuming of the position, of course.
This time would be different, a promising change that would shake everyone and everything.
But first they would have to materialize in their new home dimension. The First Sword had already been retrieved, it was assured he would no doubt inhabit that upon his arrival, but the girl, this new Eve, would assume a new, different body, a new identity free of the memories and restrictions that had needlessly made his work at programming her correctly, possible.
As he spoke, a giant black coffin was rising from the ground, the door back into the world they had been taken out of. In it, a single depression just perfect enough to fit the orb, was positioned on its face.
She would be the first of her kind, a third generation TRANS-Weapon. He was happy to give her a new designation.
"Lilith," he says, as he raises the orb to offer it to the black coffin, pushing himself into making the connection with the system outside this artificial universe, "Prepare yourself, to make your grand entrance into a brand new world..."
(/- "Gardens" - Mami Kawada -/)
Like a noose being tightened, the bubbling red energy entwined along the blonde's neck in the design of an innocuous, lace choker until it settled, staining her pure skin brightly with its blood-red color. A small, red gemstone at her throat, warm to the touch, is the only thing that remains of the orb of red energy, having combined with the entranced Eve, who remained silent and unfocused, eyes closed despite the sudden changes all around her. Had her eyes been alert and open, one would have seen the light drained from her, turning deep maroon into a muddy violet.
(/-"The flower swaying in the garden answers by stretching up
To give a good morning kiss standing on tiptoes -/)
"Transplant of the Anarchist Beryl seems to have been successful..." a blonde boy states coolly, having discarded the face of another he wore for his true face, "Eve, can you hear me?" Maroon eyes fluttered open, and long blonde hair flutters in the wind as the illusion of the castle begins to crumble away, dispelled along with the ruse of the fog that had separated everyone from those around them. Adam looked beyond the castles structure, where he could see the ruined world beginning to show its true colors with the mental perception field gone. A vast desert wasteland, filled with craggy rocks and pointed spirals, filled with shadows and darkness beyond them with more hidden danger.
(/- Now let's go! -/)
Azenda stood over the corpse of Shiki's Gireo clone, while Mea stood mere feet from her at the base of a boggy wetlands, where the shadows tried to break through into the oasis surrounding the ruins of a once great castle. A broken crystal graveyard was not far from either of them, where the Black Cat lay bruised, battered, and bleeding into the dirt, with another man standing over him at the base of a massive scattering of these crystals.
(/- Caught off guard by the sudden whirlwind, I reflexively crouch down
My skirt hides the weakness inside
I brush it off firmly -/)
"Queen of Darkness, please answer me!" Adam stated, smiling as he lifts himself up in front of her, "I am now your King of Shadows, and you will listen to me, and only answer to myself." The girl's eyes were dulled, faint and far away, yet she nodded as if listening to his words very closely. "Our master is calling; he wants us to come to him directly and to bring this world of shadows back to its rightful place..." He raises an arm to the stars, and loudly begins to declare: "Rip open the heavens, tear this island amidst darkness asunder, if you must, and return us to the origin world: to Earth!"
(/- Let's bloom to our fullest in this irregular everyday life full of misfortune
I can't be honest, so you have to look closely
I carefully buried the memory of my hesitance in the soil -/)
Violet eyes alight anew with purpose, an order received, the blonde girl dressed in gothic black walks forward out of the ruins, and towards the star filled sky. Wings rip free from her dress, which cause it to fall to tatters at the sudden change without any care or precautions, leaving her bare as she flies away from the ruins towards the open fields below. As she lands, the dust seems to coalesce around her at her very steps, until a pristine white dress covers her nude figure once more, a beguiling, simple design. Ignoring her fallen companions as she continues forward, stepping beyond a frozen Azenda, a battered Mea who was supported by her, the fallen form of Kuro and the other man; Eve walks through the flowering field with a purpose.
(/- 'A flower blooming in your heart' -/)
Bringing her hands to the choker around her neck, the red jewel pulses to life, the imprint around her neck flashing in and out of existence as she gathers the power between her hands, shaping yet another orb of energy into existence. Raising them high into the air, she fires it off into the darkened sky, a flash and a bang, and the sky was lit up by a new morning star. A massive cross of dazzling, red light alights the sky in a burning halo, as the four points stretch across the sky like growing scars.
(/- I dream of that day." -/)
"Nee-chan..." Mea states in bedazzled awe, as she watches the four points of light streak off into the four corners of the visible horizon. Azenda merely grits her teeth, as Mea helps her stand, as they both move toward where Kuro is, and where yet Yami stands beyond them all.
"That was the satellite she just hit..." Azenda states in a somewhat choked voice, as she watches streaks of wreckage fall into the atmosphere along the paths of streaking light, "She's using its solar collectors, reversing the mirrors they use to create artificial daylight, to spread that energy across this world." The wave of energy grows as Azenda helps Mea stand, the two turn to where Kuro was splayed across the garden grounds.
"So, this is your plan," cryptically states the man who appears to be yet another Kirisaki Kousuke, "Bring this world to Earth... but will you truly be able to carry out your master plan?" Taking the bleeding and prone form of the Black Cat into his hands, the Doctor removes a vial from his coat, a viscous metal inside it, and he takes some joy in stabbing his newest 'patient' with it. "Too bad I had a back-up plan," the Doctor states with sinister glee, as he steps back to admire his work, "I made sure to keep my ace up my sleeve..." He watches as Kuro is wracked with pain, sweating bullets and foaming at the mouth after being injected by the vial, its unknown mixture that he had cooked up wrecking havoc inside his body.
Black began screaming, just as Azenda and Mea managed to get close enough to approach him; he began to go into a crazed, frenzied state while writhing on the ground, tearing at his clothes, his sweat stained shirt ripped apart by his bare hands, freeing his form from the constrictive clothing. His very cells were being harshly overwritten, power flowing into him unlike any before, until he couldn't contain it anymore. It wasn't until a bruise began to form just below his collarbone and above his heart, that the pain gave any inkling of subsiding.
"Black!" Mea shouts, as Azenda sets her down, both having been drained from each of their separate battles. Mea then tried to stop her sisters favored one from hurting himself any further,before things got out of control and her sister went beyond her own help. "Black, Kuro, what is wrong?" she pleads,as she grabs him, trying to stop him from struggling, "What is...that?" Her eyes staring at the inky bruise, she realizes his body temperature is slowly dropping, the struggle lessening, as she watches letters take shape on her friends chest.
XIII
Lucky Number Thirteen.
Black Cat opens his eyes, a glowing yellow sclera, an inhumane slit; a true cat's eye had replaced his own.
Soon, he would have revenge.
Meanwhile, the crazed looking Adam, who was satisfied with having seen everything come together so smoothly, watched as his beloved Eve began to rip apart the very fabric of space and time, transforming and using the remnants of the artificial satellite to do her work. A giant black hole was opening before his very eyes, as the cross of light inverted like an unfolded piece of origami, forming a massive disc of golden-red light
"Drown this world in Darkness, my beloved Eve," Adam cries out loudly, "A world full of sin awaits our master's judgment; let us not keep his grand plan waiting any longer..." Eve opens the rift, and begins to pass the world through the largest gateway ever, spanning two galaxies. The world is eclipsed. All hope is swallowed with the light.
Darkness was coming home.