Chapter 13: Captured Friends
Celtic opened his eyes, everything was a blur. He was groggy; he knew it was from the tranquilizers that he was hit with and whatever other drugs they used to finally get him to fall. He was on his knees. He could feel his knees and ankles were restrained to the ground. As for his hands they were hooked into a weird shackled device on the ground that went up his arm to his elbows. He had a bit in his mouth along with a muzzle strapped over his mouth; he knew it was to prevent him from speaking any spells. He was shirtless, his only guess was to get the bullets out of his body and no doubt to study the markings on his body.
On his right shoulder was a crescent moon with a circle in it and writing in an old lost script around it all. On his other arm were three black marks that looked like claw marks. They had another type of old script around them. Some of the marks were covered by the black seals that seemed to cover his upper body.
Sounds of machines along with a couple of people could be heard speaking, but he couldn't make it out. He looked up at the figure that approached him. The voice said something as they bent down next to Celtic. They shot him in the side with a medical gun.
Celtic let out a grunt as he closed his eyes. "Orme, it has been a while…" The voice spoke next to Celtic. Celtic looked at the man who was bent down next to him. He studied his dark purple hair and green eyes. Celtic looked away from the man.
The man grabbed Celtic's chin moving his face so their eyes met. "You have grown a lot being on this plane." He then took the muzzle off of Celtic. Celtic spit out the bit. The man stood up looking down at him. "When we brought you here the first time you looked to be 13 and now you look in your late 20's I'd say. Though you are a lot weaker then, which brings the question as to why is that?" He studied the seals on Celtic's arms; he knew they were made for holding back all of the pain.
Celtic closed his eyes. He wasn't fond of any of these scientists, he was nothing more than just a lab rat to them, even though this scientist could have been called a friend at one time. Now after the years he probably was like the rest of them. "Not in a mood to talk?" The scientist spoke up while he brushed back his short hair with his hand. "You know if you don't talk to me you're going to be dealing with the others who treat you just like a lab rat."
Celtic looked up at him. "And you're not treating me like one now? I'm just as caged as a rat…if not more so." His ears drooped as he remembered he needed to get out of this place and find Brat. Though he knew the chances of him getting out of there was slim to none; immortality didn't erase all the other impossibilities in life. He pulled on the shackle with his hands to see if he could break it. He gritted his teeth from the pain as pins seemed to ram into his hands and wrist when he pulled hard on it.
"You keep pulling at it, you're going to lose your hands." The scientist spoke, sighing. "If I took you out of those shackles, they would have my head. You should be happy I'm here; it took me a lot to get in here to see you. They were going to assign me over to where the girl was, saying that I would let you go because we were so called 'friends'." He walked over to a computer grabbing a small device.
Celtic looked at the ground. "What are they planning to do with her?" he asked as he looked up at his once so called 'friend'. His heart ached knowing they were just using her as in some sick experiment if they were on this station. He knew this place from when he was younger. He knew the torture that went on here in the pretense of learning.
"They are waiting for her to wake up before they start testing her. From there I'm not sure, I'll probably be forced to go there after I finish up here getting in trouble." he revealed as he walked up to Celtic bending down. He messed with the arm shackle. "If you punch me I promise you will regret it. So please try to restrain yourself." There was a snap and Celtic pulled out his left hand that was covered in his own blood.
The man shook his head. "Orme, I think it's more than amazing your pain tolerance to certain things. When you get stung by a bee you're screaming like a little girl, but you get your arm torn up like that and you don't even seem to notice." He pulled out a small white case out of his lab coat. He then started to clean up Celtics hand. "I thought you said they would have your head if you did this." Celtic accused as he watched the scientist wrap up his arm.
"You still got one hand in the shackle; don't ya? So I haven't broken any rules... You still smoke right?" He questioned Celtic pulling out a small black pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, shaking them. Celtic chuckled as he took one from the scientist. "I'm surprised they still let you smoke as they were pissed with you and got me addicted to them."
The purple haired scientist laughed. "I don't even think the government could get me to quit. No matter how much torture they put me through. Hell, the torture would make me just want a cigarette more." He pulled out a lighter and lighted up their cigs. "So what have you been doing these last few years, Orme?" He let out a sigh of relief getting to finally smoke. He didn't worry so much about getting in trouble; it had been a while for him to be able to talk about something other than the endless equations and other experiments he worked on.
Celtic took a long draw off the cigarette. He closed his eyes. "Not much, mainly just getting my ass handed to me. Seems to be my forte." he chortled as he glanced over at his once friend wondering if he still was. He missed the talks with him, or having their wild adventures destroying things, once he got forced into the Elites he never got to see him again. "What about you, Reki?" Celtic asked him as he took another puff of his cigarette.
Reki shook his head. "Not much, just getting old and being stuck in a lab all day with all the many psycho obsessed sons of a bitches." He put the cigarette in his mouth as he pulled out a small computer and started to type on it. "Reki, why do you insist on calling me Orme?" Celtic inquired as he looked at him curiously. "I told you many times my name is Celtic, and please call me by such yet you continue to call me Orme."
Reki glanced at Celtic as he typed a few things. "I like the meaning behind it, 'Sealer of the Gods' or by some other translations it's 'Used by the Gods'. I like the first translation better." He smirked at Celtic as he closed the computer. He glanced at Celtic as he took another puff. "It makes me think I am friends with somebody cool." he jibed.
Celtic chuckled as he put his cig in his mouth as he moved his left hand and grabbed the restraint on his left knee pulling it out of the ground. He pulled out the rest of the restraints on his legs and then stretched out his legs. "That's much better." he said as he looked at his right hand in the shackle device. "I doubt you are going to open this are you?"
Reki let out a sigh. "Whenever you're around I get in a shit ton of trouble. But then you keep my life exciting." He started to mess with the device, after a few moments there was a snap. It was going to be like old times just with a bigger punishment this time. He held out the pack of cigarettes to Celtic. "My guess your pack is gone." He smirked.
Celtic snatched it up. "The morgue people took it, damn bastards stole it from me when I was playing dead. The police don't even give the dead respect." He stated as he pocketed the pack of cigs. He looked at Reki. "So why are you doing this, you know you're going to get in a lot of trouble for this."
Reki looked at the door. "They're all more interested in that poor little girl, also another reason they let me come down here. They all want to be there when the testing started, something I could care less about. But the others were more than interested so it was easy to get someone to switch places with me. I'm sure I'll get demoted for this but nothing worse since I am good at my job, being a scientist that is. And with the demotion at least I can talk to someone who doesn't have a circuit card stuck up their ass. Everything is so boring around here so I'm sure this will spice up things."
Reki smiled some at Celtic though in his heart he felt sorry for the poor bastard. He knew Celtic probably didn't have a clue what type of sick experiments they already had planned for him. Once they looked over all of the tapes from the police station the other scientists were extremely excited about having a true immortal to experiment on. They could do everything and anything they wanted to do to Celtic for the rest of their days.
"So you got promoted?" Celtic spoke up, breaking the short silence. He looked to the door pondering how long till guards come busting through. He didn't want this to end though he knew it would. He was nothing more than a lab rat now; he had betrayed the government that brought him down to this plane in the first place.
Reki chuckled. " I haven't been in any trouble since you left, well, since you joined the Elite. So the only thing really have to do on a Lab station is work, unless you want to talk about Yurhsa Theory of planes, which is something I rather avoid." Reki let out a small sigh as he tossed his dead cigarette to the ground. "Orme, they are going to have you fight Brat." he disclosed. He felt like he had to tell Celtic to give him some fair warning.
Celtic looked at Reki shocked. "What, why? She is just a young girl and they should know I can defeat her easily. Do they just want to see her get the shit beat out of her for their sick games?" he questioned Reki."Hell, if I'm not careful I could kill her, is that what they want? That doesn't make sense."
Reki shook his head as he pulled out another cigarette lighting it up. "According to the data files, you're going to be the one in trouble." he revealed as he looked at Celtic. "You've heard the rumors of the Orion Station attack, right? A beast or the devil himself came there that day with the help of Brat. Well, apparently it was Brat not something else. They want to test her out on a live victim and since you're immortal you will live against anything she can do to you. You coming here they say was a godsend, because now they can test a lot of experiments without having to deal with their subject dying." He held his cig to his mouth taking a deep draw of it. "Can you survive being eaten alive? They sure in the hell want to know."
Celtic looked at his right hand that was still covered in his blood. He closed his eyes. "You have to get her out of here Reki. I don't care what they do to me, but she doesn't deserve this." he pled as he looked over at Reki.
"Orme, even if I wanted to, I couldn't. This place has more guards than the first time you were brought here. They aren't taking any chances of losing that girl or you. If anyone is stupid enough to even try they would be dead or worse. Which they are sure that Brat's crew will come themselves to try to rescue her. So they already have a trap waiting for them." Reki stated as he looked towards the door as it opened.
"Dr. Reki, I see you it didn't take you much time to let our pet out of his cage. Along with that, you gave him some of those vile cigarettes that you're not even supposed to have on this station." A woman reprimanded as she walked towards the two. She had light faded pink hair that was pulled back in a bun. She had on a pair of glasses and the frames were a dark pink. She wore a white lab coat with pink trim on it.
"Must have slipped my mind." Reki mocked as he looked at Celtic. "This bitch is the new head of the department I'm in. That other old hag finally kicked the bucket while you were gone." Celtic chuckled. "I remember that hag giving us a lecture on destroying property." Celtic looked up at the woman. "She seems even more stuck up than old haggy."
"How dare you two!" she snapped. "Reki, how dare you say such disrespectful things about me! And to this nothing of a being! I order you to get your butt out of here!" she screamed at him. She couldn't believe that he was talking to the experiment like this. On top of it he was being so disrespectful!
Reki looked at the woman. "I think I'm going to stay right here. I like to see you try to get me out of this room by your lonesome little self. Besides, I really don't think you want me to leave you alone with Orme since he is out of his cage."
The woman stood there even more irritated than before. "Reki, are you trying to get yourself demoted or worse?! What is wrong with you, you've never acted like this before? Not that you're well-behaved or necessarily cooperative but consorting with a labrat while berating me. I don't understand but I promise you I will have the guards drag you out of here Reki! And have that thing drugged up." she declared as she glared at Celtic believing he was making this problem.
"Eikra, go get laid and then come back when such has put you're in a better mood." Celtic sassed as Reki laughed out as he held his lighter out Celtic. Celtic took it chuckling. He lit up another cigarette as he looked at the upset woman. "Gr…" Eikra let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm telling the uppers about this! You will be fired and punished, Reki and this labrat...O-oo!" She ran out of the room.
"I guess she can't fire you, can she?" snickered Reki."Nah, that be too easy now, wouldn't it?"bayed Celtic."So it seems you learned what it means to get laid?" Reki laughed as he glanced at Celtic who nodded. "Ah, and it seems you warmed up more to jokes as you have a better understanding of our language. I would say let's go set some traps for when the guards come, but I'm sure I'm already in enough trouble..And truly the traps will do you no good in the long run."
Celtic took a puff of his cig. "She said she was going to get you fired. It's a way out of this place right?" Reki shook his head. "They won't fire me; I'm one of their lead researchers on Truresa Project. As much as I would like to get out of this place, they aren't going to let me till I keel over dead. I'm just as much a prisoner here as you I just get treated a little better." Reki claimed as he stepped on his cigarette using the ground to put it out. He leaned back looking up at the ceiling. "This is probably the last time I get to talk to you, Orme. I wanted to say thanks; you always could lighten the mood, even if half the time you didn't have a clue as of what was going on. You added some excitement to my life and I honestly believe us friends."
Celtic glanced over at him as he was relaxing with his cigarette. He wasn't sure what to say, it seemed they were going to part ways again, but this time they would definitely be left on opposing sides. He looked down at the ground. "Thanks for being my friend. I didn't really have any."
Reki chuckled. "You don't' got to thank me for that, I enjoy being your friend. I just wish it could have been under different circumstances." As the conversation was dying he thought he knew what his punishment would be. He no doubt would be forced to watch Celtic being attacked by Brat along with all the other sick and twisted experiments they planned for Celtic. He walked up to his friend as he pulled out his black lighter holding it to Celtic. "I want you to have this. I'll request that they let you keep that along with the cigarettes. I'll come up with some scientific bullshit that the uppers will believe." He smirked.
Celtic took it looking it over. "This is your so-called lucky lighter. It seemed more of bad luck to me." he chuckled, pocketing it. "Ah, it kept me from getting transferred off of the station when I was younger. I say that was luck itself after all we destroyed here along with the sexual harassment reports I had on me." He bent down next to Celtic. "Orme… I'm sorry…."
Celtic winced as he felt himself get shot in his calf with a medical gun. He looked at Reki as everything started to go black. "I wish you wouldn't wake up Orme… so you wouldn't have to live through the experiments they are going to do to you…" Celtic hit the ground out cold.
Reki looked down at Celtic. His heart cried for his friend. He had drugged him with a special drug that he made that would knock him out. He looked at the door as it opened. He started to head towards the door with his hands in his pockets.
Eikra walked in followed by an older man who had black hair that was graying some. "Very well played Reki. That stupid bastard still believes you're his friend.." the man commended as he smirked.
He glanced at Reki who avoided eye contact with him. The man snarled at Reki as he could tell this was hard for him apparently the years apart hadn't ended their friendship after all. "I told you from the start not to get attached to him, yet you did. All of those times as a child I told you he is nothing more than the government's pet."
He walked up in front of Reki as he glared at the youth. "Your fault and your stupidity letting yourself get attached to simple emotions and to a lab rat no less. Scientists know better. Get out of my sight…you disgust me! And if I see you around that lab rat without my permission I promise you will regret it…boy."
Reki walked passed the man out of the room. He knew not to talk back it would just get him in worse trouble. "Reki… I expect you to be there for the test run to see what that girl can do! " The man called out as Reki cringed at the directive as he walked on.
"What don't you just fire that boy! He's been nothing more than trouble here! You should see the reports I get from the other scientist!" Eikra divulged to the man. "Not to speak out of place sir, but he doesn't even help anyone ..all he does is sit alone in his room only working on his own stuff."
"He's also the leading scientist in the Truresa Project, also with that he is my adopted son. So I believe he will be staying here, miss Eikra. I understand you've been here only a few months, but I would watch your tongue when speaking to me.". She looked a bit shocked. "Y-yes sir." She nodded holding her clipboard close to herself. She looked over at the sleeping devil.
"Get some guards to put him in the room we made for him and the girl. I want him in a set of those special shackles. It seems the crafter was right about them; he can't get out of them." the man instructed as he started to walk out of the room. "I'm going to go see if the girl is awake… I expect him to be ready if she is."
"Yes Sir!" Eikra articulated as she ran up to a computer typing on it. She held down a button. "I need 5 guards in here to clean up a mess. I also need another pair of the shackles that Mr. Yunhra provided for us." She looked up at Celtic, she never expected she would meet a true immortal, but he seemed just like a mortal in the sense of standards.
Brat slowly opened her eyes. She was lying on her side and her head was pounding. The last thing she remembered was trying to get away from some guards and what looked like a Demon trying for some reason to get to her to help. She sat up slowly to see where she was. She was in a room by herself and there was no sign of the demon. A large glass window was one of the walls. On the other side of the thick glass was a lab with several scientists at work in it. She glanced around and noticed there was a small door on the ground; it looked like a sliding door. It looked to be a way to let things into the room, it seemed large enough for a person to crawl through.
Brat went to move to investigate but she heard the rattling of chains. She looked at her wrist that had shackles on them with chains hooked to the ground along with her ankles. She moved her hands to her neck; she had a large brace around her neck that was hooked to a chain as well that was bolted to the floor. It was clear they weren't taking any chances with her.
Brat rubbed her head trying to get the throbbing feeling to go away. She watched as a couple of scientists pointed at her and started to say a few things. The glass seemed to be sound proof. She was sure if she spoke though they could hear her.
Pulling at the shackles she couldn't tell if she would be able to stand. She grabbed one of her shoes, pulling it off. She moved the best she could so her back was halfway towards the scientist. She then opened up the heel to her shoes pulling out a lock picking tool. She started to work at the shackles on her wrist.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice spoke over an intercom in the room. Brat's ears twitched listening. She ignored the warning and managed to take off one of the shackles. She let out a scream as a shock of electricity went through the other chains attached to her.
Reki's 'father' walked up to the glass tapping on it. He had on a headset so he could talk to her. "Every time you don't listen you're going to get shocked like that, so I would be a good kitty and listen carefully. And if it gets to the point we'll bring in other ways of torture."
Brat glared at the man as panted from the pain that ran through her body. She knew better than to say anything, she was better off keeping her mouth shut. She looked away from the man, she cared more about the fact that Eznik and the two non-mergers got out of there alive.
Watching her closely he could tell that her mind was elsewhere. He walked up to the door and opened it. He walked into the cell with Brat. "It seems you are letting your mind wander, when you should be paying more attention to what you need to do."
Brat looked at the man out of the corner of her eye. She grabbed the pick lock tool, she could use it as a weapon if needed. She let out a yelp as the chains on the shackles pulled into the ground. She found herself pinned to the ground.
The man walked up and stepped on her freed hand. She let out a small cry of pain as she let go of the pick locking tool."You know what I wonder is why a young and innocent girl like you can transform into a killing machine? Is that just the gods laughing at you? Or is it demons playing with you?" He moved off of her hand, bending down he grabbed up the tool. He held it up looking at it, figuring she probably wouldn't respond to his questions.
"I guess it doesn't matter in the end one way or another as you are a killer. No matter what side causes it. I believe it's time to see what this beast looks like and maybe even see what it can do. I'm a little excited cause I got you a present. I got you 're going to love him because no matter what you do to him he's not going to leave your side." He moved her hair grabbing the back of her necklace yanking it off of her.
Brat let out a small cry. "Give it back!" she cried out as she tried to get up, but the chains held her down tight to the ground. She closed her eyes, she didn't want to transform, she hated the feeling. She hated everything about it. "I'll do what you want, just give it back!"
"But what I want is for you to transform and give us a show…. I hope you don't mind live prey… that pet I was telling you about." He smirked as he walked out of the room. He locked up the door then walked in front of the glass. To see if all the files they had from Eznik were true as well as the rumors about Orion.
Brat let out a scream as her cat ears started to get longer as did her tail. Fur started to grow over all her body. Her face started to become much more cat-like. Brat closed her eyes as the pain rushed through her. She could feel herself slipping away. She was losing control of her body and of who she was. She wished she could stop this horrible transformation.
Where the girl once was now stood a white cat-like beast. It was snarling while pulling at the shackles. It started looking at the glass growling. The beast started to drag the chains out from the floor with its strength. It wanted its prey and the chains weren't going to hold it back.
"So… that's the beast of Orion.." Erkia walked up next to the man. "Sir Oskal, Orme is ready if you are wanting to see what she can do." Her eyes were drawn to the white cat as it tried to rip the chains out of the ground.
"Reki, is he in the view room?" Oskal looked at Erkia as she nodded. "Along with all the other scientist." "Open up the small door and release the beast from its chains.." He looked back at a couple of scientists. "Do what you need to get her through that crawl door?"
He looked down at the necklace he tore off the girl. A small purple stone was on it and then there was a ring. He pulled the ring off of the chain looking at it. He assumed it a gift from someone. As he looked it over further; an engagement ring? he wondered as he chuckled at the thought of someone wanting to be with this girl. He headed to the viewing room. His attention went to Reki who was sitting in a chair watching Celtic.
"This shall be very interesting, though it's sad that her prey has to be shackled to the ground.." Oskal smirked as he walked up and sat next to Reki. "I guess though it's a good thing that Orme won't die, so you don't have to see your lab rat or a friend die in front of you and get your little heart all broken. Instead you get to see him suffer and mutilated over and over again but like I said at least he won't die on you and break your little heart.."
Reki closed his eyes, ignoring the best he could do for his father's cruelty. This was the last thing he needed, was his father's cruel words. He already felt guilty enough tranquilizing Celtic leaving him defenseless.
Celtic opened his eyes looking around. He was in a circular room and his arms were in the same device they were in earlier. He was on his knees, but his legs were free. His eyes trailed around the room looking at the tinted windows that surrounded the room. It was clear he was in an observation room. His eyes went to the small door that opened. His heart started to race as he remembered what Reki had told him.
Celtic tugged on the shackles, he could feel the pins run into his hands and arms. He closed his eyes from the pain. He knew that he couldn't use his arms. He knew he couldn't use them even if he needed to. He was going to have to sit there and think of a plan by observing how she was going to fight.
The white beast crawled its way into the room. Its eyes locked onto Celtic. Slowly it circled Celtic watching him closely seeing if he would make a move. The beast purely ran on the instinct of hunting and killing its prey.
Celtic was shocked seeing the white cat creature. His ears dropped, all that ran through his mind was what did they do to her. His eyes locked with the beast. He knew that stare. It was looking at him as if he was food nothing more.
Brat darted at him sinking her large fangs into his arm. She dug her claws into his shoulder as she kept a tight grip on his arm.
Celtic did the only thing he could think of, he head butted the creature. It seemed to only make it more mad as it sunk its teeth deeper. Celtic let out a cry of pain. He didn't know what else to do but he knew that he was soon going to lose his arm if he didn't do something. He let out a scream as he pulled with all of his strength on the shackles.
He pulled up the shackles off the ground, but his hands were still together. He swung his arms hitting the beast off of him. He backed up panting. Part of his arm was missing a piece out of it and blood was running down it. He looked at the beast. "Brat snap out of it!" he shouted at her, though in his heart he knew it wouldn't do any good.
The beast got up to its feet as if nothing happened. It let out a low growl darting at Celtic. It aimed towards his jugular for the kill. Celtic stumbled out of the way of the beast, but as soon as it hit the ground it jumped back hitting him on the back.
Celtic winced as the beast slammed him in the back. He let out a wail as the claws dug deep into his back. He closed his eyes from the pain while trying to maintain his senses. He knew that he couldn't let himself be overtaken by the beast or the pain. He felt the cat creature grab the back of his neck. He rolled over hoping it would make the beast let go.
Brat backed off watching him slowly as he got to his feet. She darted in a circle around him and jumped at his back again.
Celtic moved out of the way. He had to keep moving dodging her pounces. With every pounce she was getting much faster, instead slower. Celtic winced as he swung his arms together slamming them into the beast. He didn't want to hurt her, but he had to protect himself. Celtic looked down at the beast that he had struck with half of his strength. His eyes widen as it jumped at him once again.
Celtic stumbled back; he didn't understand she should have been knocked out cold. But no she was still going strong and looked like she wasn't going to slow down. Celtic jumped out of the way as he dodged yet another attack. He was slowing down as his body was finally feeling the toll from his wounds. He had to hit her with full force; he just prayed he wouldn't kill her.
Celtic watch her circle him again. Once she pounced at him he moved and swung his arms full strength into her. She slammed hard into the wall then hit the ground. Celtic panted running up to her to see if she was out. He let out a sigh as he collapsed to his knees. He knew time was short. So he needed to work fast. He slammed the shackles on his arms as hard as he could against the floor over and over finally busting them open. He pulled his bloodied arms out of the device. He grabbed Brat's back leg and immediately started chanting.
Celtic winced as he felt a couple of tranquilizers hit his back. He could hear shouting that seemed nothing more than a whisper to him now. He looked at Brat as black markings crawled up her leg. A small smile covered his face as he hit the ground out cold. All that mattered was Brat was going to transform back to normal and they wouldn't be able to get her to transform into that horrible creature again.