Underground Lab (part 1)
Kirigiri couldn't help but to feel sad for her lover trembling and repeating the same curse in front of her.
"Fuck…" he started, then he looked at his right hand, "fuck…" then at his left hand, "Fuck…" his tremors getting more violent with each repetition, then he looked around on the new area, "Fuck! Is Martin behind this?"
"I don't know…" she answered, still holding him, "But listen to me. I know that you must be thinking the same thing as me right now. So let me remind you: We are not crazy. I know, I know only crazy people say that. But believe me when I say that we are as sane as this world allows, and we have this camera full of evidence. This isn't a 'gospel'; this is a mockery of reason. We will let the world know about this, is Murkoff's fault! We'll bury them with this video." she said with a determination that would match his if he was in a better state.
"Y-Yes… You're right! L-Let's do this! So we must keep going…"
"There's no other choice…"
"Kyoko… Thank you. If you weren't here, I would have given up by now…"
She smiled at him, but kept it to herself that she was feeling the same thing.
They both looked around and decided to go deeper inside this new area.
"When will we leave this place…?" they wondered out loud.
The corridor was circular, as if they were in a tunnel, and by looking at the white composition of the walls, they thought that it looked like ice, but from the composition, it was obvious that they were inside the mountain right now.
They opened a door and entered what looked like another entrance lobby, there was a desk and two big screen behind it. On the left screen: Murkoff Corp. Logo and on the right: WALRIDER Project and its logo.
They looked around, there was blood and body parts everywhere. Also some destroyed guns.
"I know this place" Kirigiri said.
"Y-You know…?" Naegi asked with wide eyes.
"I mean, I know this lobby. Father Martin showed it to me before sedating us and bringing us to the Prison Block, right when we unlocked the front door. These soldier were killed by the Walrider." she explained.
"Wait. Soldiers? I… I can't even recognize them." Naegi looked at one of the mutilated bodies.
They had to continue, there was something strange about the bodies and blood splashes. Some splashes were logical, but the ones near the 'bodies' looked like the bodies exploded, like when they were in the sewers.
From that room on, every single room of the underground lab had at least one corpse. The corridors were bloody with headless guard corpses. In one small lab room they found just a pile of organs spread over a table wallowing in a pool of blood.
On another room they found a file of report of a scientist working in the lab, they were talking about how the Walrider project was using patients from the asylum for their tests and some of them just died or became even crazier.
As they went deeper inside the laboratory, they eventually found a panel with the words they have been searching for all night.
"Delivery EXIT"
They almost let out a shout of joy as they followed the arrow indicating where was the exit they were oh so looking for. As they walked down a new corridor still full of blood and bodies half, they found a lot of barrels blocking the way, but they could easily climb over it, it was just a hassle. They reached a bulletproof window showing a hangar with some military trucks inside, but most importantly, the giant doors were open. They saw that there was door leading to it, it was also open, they just need to get to it and leave this damn place.
They walked down the corridor they were in and it opened up to two ways, but the left one was way more appealing to them with another panel indicating that the delivery exit was this way.
They went down the left way and found a decontamination room that might lead to where they wanted to go. But when they were a few feet away from the door, it locked itself, an alarm went off and red lights started to flash in the corridor and what they didn't want to see appeared before them.
The Walrider.
The couple immediately turned back and ran in the opposite direction as the ghost started to chase them. They jumped over the barrels but it was slowing them down.
"Makoto! Grab my hand!" the lavender haired detective shouted as she reached for her partner's hand.
He grabbed it and didn't let go as she pulled him.
They reached the doors leading to the previous corridor, maybe they could find somewhere to hide over there. They opened the doors and another monster they didn't want to see appeared behind the doors.
Chris Walker.
"Little pigs." he growled as he reached for both of their necks and grabbed them, "Little pigs…" he repeated as he threw them behind him violently against the wall, "No more escape…" he 'smiled' as he approached again, ready to kill them once and for all.
Then something unexpected happened.
A dark mist appeared out of nowhere and threw the giant Variant against the wall. As Chris started to scream and moan in agony, the dark cloud didn't stop, always lifting him up and smashing him against the wall as if he was a ragdoll.
Naegi was looking at the scene with wide terrified eyes, Kirigiri on the other hand quickly lifted the camcorder to record what was happening.
The slender but tall form of the Walrider was looking down at Chris as he tried to stand up, his face bloodier than before. The dark ghost grabbed the Variant once more and threw him again against the wall, leaving a splash of blood to mark where Chris' face landed. The sadistic monster kept throwing the large man against the walls for some seconds before finally lifting him up andthrowing him inside a gridded vent that was nearby, leaving a giant wave of blood spurting out of the vent. Killing Chris Walker.
The couple of detectives stood still for a few seconds before standing up and slowly walk towards the last splash of blood, there was some organs in the middle. Then they looked up to the gridded vent only to see that Chris was thrown in there… without breaking the grid. Meaning that his body was certainly pressed and cut with a lot of strength. They didn't want to see inside that grid and hoped no one will.
This was the way he dies. Ripped to pieces from the inside, watching his marrow scatter on a concrete wall.
"You've escaped one Hell, Chris Walker…" said Kirigiri.
"God help us but I somehow hope you didn't find another." Naegi concluded.
The old Soldier turned Variant died...
It was weird but they somewhat felt more sympathy for his death, than Father Martin's.
They could still hear the alarm echoing in the halls so they guessed that the door leading to the exit must be closed. They needed to find a way to stop the alarm and open the doors. Maybe there was a room they've missed, so they turned back towards the corridors they walked before.
Until they heard a voice calling out for them.
"Is somebody there? Has somebody survived? Come closer. Please talk to me before he kills you too. Over here! Please, I must try to explain…"
It was coming from a door that they swear was locked before. They got inside the room that immediately locked itself after they got in. It was an office with dead guards, but they were separated from the office and its occupant by a glass wall. On the wall behind the office was a giant painting of a man getting killed by a dark mist, the Walrider. The said occupant was an old man on a wheelchair, he was weak, his mouth not moving when talking, he talked via a machine, like Stephen Hawking.
"I know, I know… I am supposed to be dead. No… no such luck." The old man started.
Kirigiri crossed her arms as she glared at the man.
"Rudolf Wernicke…" she called.
The old scientist turned his chair around.
"... I am older than sin, but, somehow, the only one left… because of Billy."
Here he was, the one behind the Walrider project, Dr. Wernicke. Both detective stared angrily at the man.
"Explain. Now." Kirigiri demanded.
"Aren't you going to present yourselves first?"
Naegi was about to do it but Kirigiri quickly stopped him from doing so, they didn't know that man, and he could be dangerous.
"I see… Billy took care of me. He may think I'm his father. He certainly loves me, the poor idiot." Wernicke started before wheeling toward the logo of the Walrider Project that was on the wall.
"Do you know what this symbol represents?" he asked, "It warns of a Nano hazard. Microscopic machines, technology we have had for decades, but never mastered. Murkoff discovered it, in my research, a work-a-round. Turning the cells of human bodies into Nano factories. It's the natural function of cells to produce molecules, but through psychosomatic direction, we engineered the precise molecules necessary. Mind over body." he paused after his revelation, "It was foolish and wrong to think we could control it. To use mad men to control something so strong."
He turned to them.
"You have to stop him, to murder Billy. Turn off his life support, his anesthesia. You have to undo what I've done. No one can get out of this place while he lives. You must kill him."
The duo looked at each other, they didn't know what to say. They weren't murderers… but they must to get out of here. And there was no way with Billy still alive and controlling the Walrider.
"What else?" asked Kirigiri.
Wernicke stared at her before turning around and answered, "We achieved something like this in 1944. Those fascists thought it was spirits, and I let them believe it. Let them kill themselves thinking there was some kind of afterlife now empirically promised to them. Fools… Poor Alan. He would weep to see what I've built from his dreams."
Wernicke moved his head a bit to try to look over his shoulder.
"Billy doesn't mean harm. He's a child with a damaged mind, granted the powers of a God. It would make any of us into a monster. You must end this. " He paused then continued
"Murkoff knew the dangers, but they didn't care. In the corporation's mind, we are all just dollar amounts in a ledger. And the profits Project Walrider promised, overshadowed whatever pitiful balance a few doctors and patients amounted to." The doctor turned to the couple.
"He will spread if you don't stop him. The Morphogenic Engine is self-perpetuating. I pray to god you have the strength to end it here with you death."
"We are not planning to die here. We will get out."
"...Whatever you say… I wish you luck. I… More than anything else want to rest. Billy will not let me die. He could never imagine how cruel this is. I only want to die." and with that Wernicke turned around, pressed a button to stop the alarm.
The couple walked out of the office that locked itself once again they were out.
It Seem that they must find Billy. And… murder him. But will they be able to do so?
To be concluded...