"It won't be necessary for you to look any further."
Tadashi's head snapped back at the familiar voice- Alistair Krei.
His eyes narrowed as he watched the well-groomed man pace around the room, like a cougar sizing its prey. How long had he been watching them for?
"Didn't expect to see you here, Hamada."
"We both have business to deal with," Tadashi spat.
"Well of course." He reached into his breast pocket, and delicately balanced between his fingers a blue, microchip. He examined it with feigned interest before putting it back into his pocket. "Why else would you be here?"
"Cut your bullshit and just get on with it." Tomago hissed. "Where's the boy?"
"My my, Leiko. Why the spite? I thought we were friends." Krei's voice had dropped a notch lower. "After all, you were the one who brought your playmate's chip to me."
Tadashi could feel the rage course through his body. He was nearly about to act on it when he felt Tomago's vice-like grip seize his arm, a steady reminder of the vulnerability of their position. A part of him burned with anger at Tomago for her betrayal. The entire fiasco wouldn't even have taken place if she hadn't so graciously offered his chip to Krei on a silver platter. But it wasn't worth compromising his prototype for his ongoing personal feud with either of them. He turned his attention to Tomago, whose face had visibly softened- was it guilt he detected in her eyes? Her unexpected reaction stunned Tadashi momentarily, allowing himself to relax slightly in her grasp.
Krei watched their interaction with detached amusement. The two of them were once the scientific field's most outstanding individuals. He remembered Hamada and Miyazaki as the good-natured kids with the impressive robotics display at the SFIT showcase. It was interesting to observe how people changed when placed in adverse, extreme conditions. It reminded him of the Stanford Experiment; prisoner and guards. Except they were all prisoners trapped in this fiendish world. Prisoners who had adapted to the violence and degeneration set into the slowly dying globe.
If only they knew how much their skill sets were worth in the underground market.
Both were first-class graduates from SFIT. Leiko Miyazaki was known for her flawless automotive and aerospace designs while Tadashi Hamada's genius in Artificial Intelligence had remained unparalleled in the healthcare sector for years on end. But Krei, on the other hand, prided himself on having the best of both worlds. He single-handedly built up Krei Tech with little more than a good mind and a couple of tinkering tools. It was child's play for him. Another invaluable skill he possessed though, the one that distinguished him from the rest, was his eye for business.
And he knew when to grab an opportunity when he saw one.
The contours of Krei's face shifted as his mouth morphed into a sickening grin.
"Bring the boy in," he spoke into the receiver.
The boy didn't even look anywhere remotely close to his age. His eyes were sullen and his skin cast an unhealthy yellow gleam. An oversized blue jacket covered his scrawny frame, making him look smaller than he already was. He'd clung onto a pillar in the far corner of the room the moment he was brought in, as though it were his only saving grace. He spoke no words, with only the occasional incoherent mumbling as his eyes ran around the room in an unfocused fashion.
"He's about thirteen to fourteen." A uniformed male had simply said, referring to the boy with as much emotion as a person to a stray animal. Tomago walked over and tried to reach out for the boy, only for him to recoil further into his own arms, which were tightly wound around his knees.
"What did they do to you?" Tomago asked in a hushed whisper. It pained her to see someone act so fearful- especially a child as young as he.
Krei strutted over and pulled the boy up, who whined in protest at being manhandled suddenly.
"Hiro," the man addressed the struggling boy, who refused to cooperate.
"Hiro!" His voice was now louder and firmer, commanding respect and acknowledgement. The boy, Hiro, they supposed, calmed down slightly, but still refused to look Krei in the eye.
"I want you to meet Tadashi Hamada and Leiko Miyazaki. They'll be taking you to the SFIT laboratory."
"L… Laboratory?" The word came out of Hiro's mouth slowly, like he was testing it with his tongue.
Krei stared at the boy with a hardened look. "It will be fine, Hiro."
Tadashi and Tomago looked on in astonishment as the seemingly simple and placatory phrase sent the boy into a panicked fit.
"No," he wheezed violently, backing away from Krei. "No. I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back. Please don't let me go back."
"Compose yourself, Hiro."
"I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back."
The boy repeated the words mindlessly as his voice rose, verging on screaming. But then Krei peeled off a strip from the side of Hiro's neck and suddenly everything fell silent. The boy crumpled into his arms almost immediately.
"What the fuck was that for?!" Tadashi exclaimed, as he watched Krei lay the boy on the ground. "What did you do to him?"
"It's called sedation. Given your prodigious intellect, I thought you would've known, Hamada."
Tadashi walked towards the boy and examined him. His chest was rising up and down erratically, but his serene expression was what unnerved Tadashi. It was almost as though his young shoulders were free from the burdens of the world, silently appreciating the peace that would be ripped away once time worked its way through his system. He bent down beside the boy and picked him up, handing him to Tomago, who shifted him into her arms with a gentleness Tadashi thought she had forgotten.
He then turned to face Krei.
"I give you my word that we'll take him there. But I want the chip back."
"When did your word become enough leverage?" Questioned Krei.
"You know you can easily find and kill me if we don't get the job done."
"Of course I know I can find you. I do have connections and information that you cannot even fathom, boy. Or how else would I have lured the infamous Tadashi Hamada out of his little eel pit?" Krei snickered mockingly. "But kill you? No… There's nothing in for me on that one, especially if I tried to kill someone involved with the APEX like you, wouldn't it?"
Tadashi's body stiffened.
"It's no secret in the underground that you've been with them. It's old news. Why do you think you haven't gotten expelled beyond the borders with that attitude of yours? The APEX wants you alive, Hamada." He tapped his breast pocket. "And I have the entire reason right here. So that gives me immunity. I have the technology to easily improve on what you already have. There's no doubt I can make it more… profitable."
"My relationship with all these organizations are purely business in nature, but I can let you in on a little secret." Krei continued, "FEDRA is winning the fight against the Fireflies. Hiro is an immune. The Fireflies think that he is their trump card to reversing the situation. I can even assure you that this child is worth more than the average immune. Perhaps even more than what your little chip can offer."
There was a brief moment of silence as Krei regarded the boy in Tomago's arms carefully.
"The Fireflies have always meant well, but they're going nowhere with the wishful thinking. But the APEX… The APEX is a new breed on its own. An apt name too, if I may say. Pinnacle of its food chain, really. Comprises of the top minds around the globe. It's no wonder they besot you. They actually give FEDRA a run for their money this time." Krei let out a breathy laugh. "But they're so, so, so, dedicated to the cure, that they'll stop at nothing. I'm sure you know that well enough."
"What are you trying to say?" Tadashi growled through gritted teeth.
"What I'm trying to say is that aside from those ghouls, you have people on your tail who hope you fail, Hamada. No one likes sharing the credit for a cure. Don't say I didn't warn you. We are after all… acquaintances. But speaking of which, I still need some form of security. You are after all, a very risky investment. You'll get the chip back after you get the job done."
"I don't see why you can't get the job done yourself, if you're such a big shot." Tadashi remarked snidely.
Krei shrugged nonchalantly. "My sphere of protection ends beyond the walls that cordon off the Halls from the borders. I prefer to remain the undetected middleman. People come to me for dealings and operations because I can guarantee them success. Being part of the action just deters that from happening. That's what we have you people for, after all. People who don't mind doing the dog job for a lump sum."
"So you'd rather send people who you think are replaceable because you're afraid of dying?" Tomago jumped in angrily. "You're a bastard, you know that?"
"You're one to talk for someone who has no qualms betraying their own kind." Krei goaded. "And you willingly partook in this."
Krei's eyes snapped to Tomago, who had her own flip knife drawn back in a reverse grip in her free hand.
"You have no idea how close to death you are right now." Snarled Tomago, only to be met with an unperturbed look.
"And I have snipers who can take you down immediately with just a command." He replied monotonously. "I did not get to where I am by playing nice, apocalypse or no apocalypse. Look where being nice put your sister at, Leiko Miyazaki. Dead, never to be seen again."
Tadashi felt his fist connect with Krei's face the moment he stopped. The older man stumbled backwards from the force, but recovered almost instantly. He wiped the blood off his nose, chuckling to himself. "Nothing lasts forever. Surely you've come to accept that out of all people, Hamada."
"You think of me as an unscrupulous businessman and I cannot deny that I like a good bargain." Krei offered him a pleasant smile. "But I'm not always the bad person you think I am. I have the capacity to be a good partner. It would be nice if you knew how to compromise once in a while. I bid you two well on your journey."
Not waiting for their response, Krei turned to go, leaving behind an ebbing trail of his silhouette, a boy, and all the unanswered questions in the world racing through their minds.
A/N: I'm really sorry for taking so long to upload. Please rest assured that I have not abandoned this project yet, and I have many more plans for it too. Things are going to get pretty confusing but they'll clear up once I start on the next few chapters. Once again, thanks for reading!