Act 1 | Scene 2
Is there a hero somewhere, someone who appears and saves the day
Someone who holds out a hand and turns back time
Is there a hero somewhere, someone who will never walk away
Who doesn't turn a blind eye to a crime
(Locking Up The Sun / Poets of the Fall)
20 July, Unknown time, Unknown Laboratory, Xak-4.
Hooded figures clad in black laboratory coats made their way around the white room. There was no sound save the occasional beep from one machine or another. Lenalee Lee lay spread-eagled on the table, her four limbs firmly attached to the smooth top to prevent her movement. Wires and cables made an elaborate web around her, connected to various parts of her body from top to toe. Her eyes were wide open, taking in her surroundings. She had no idea where she was, except that she was currently being taken hostage by the NOAH. Allen had told her once, when he had thought she was sleeping, that the NOAH were based in Xak-4 so that was her best guess. She hoped that Lavi had managed to decipher the message she had sent him, and she hoped against hope that he would actually care enough to come for her.
The rustling of the black coats stopped as a door slid open. A petite girl stood in the doorway, dressed in the same black coat altered to become more of a jacket. Her hair was spiked in all directions, and she had a lollipop in one hand. "Hello, darling princess!" she cooed.
Lenalee's stomach made a disgusted flip. This girl was Road Kamelot, and every time she appeared (this being the third) it spelled bad news for Lenalee.
"Why, does my darling not want to play today?" Road hummed, her voice dripping with sickly sweetness. "Akuma-chan, you may leave."
The hooded figures bowed low, then made their way out of the room. The door slid shut with a loud click. Lenalee braced herself; it was going to begin, the same way it always did.
Road pressed a few buttons on the machine at the foot of the table Lenalee lay on, and Lenalee let out a shrill, blood-curdling scream. The images were unrelenting, always new, always different, but all of them were equally terrifying to look at. Nii-san, his black hair matted with blood and body punctured with holes. Lavi, bloodied face spread in a wide grin, reaching out for her with hands stained red. Allen, dragging a body behind him as he walked away from her, his other hand holding a gun smoking at the tip.
As her victim trashed through the illusions, Road chuckled to herself. It was fun, trying to break this girl. She pressed a few more buttons, and the convolutions stopped. Lenalee drew a deep shuddering breath, her eyes still flared in panic.
"So, where is he?" Road asked silkily, dragging a finger under Lenalee's chin. She shivered, trying to force the shorter girl away from her but failing.
"I don't know," Lenalee bit out in a hiss. Her voice was shaky, still trying to recover from the shock of the hypnosis. "Why do you even fucking care?"
Road paused for a moment, then her face split into a wide smile. "Oooh, so the princess can bite! This is gonna be fun for us~" She turned away and waved her right hand casually. Three Akuma entered the room, faceless creatures as they were. Grabbing her, they broke her restraints and carried her away from the table, unceremoniously dumping her on the floor of a neighbouring room.
"Have fun~ Princess~" Road snickered as she shut the door behind her. There was the sound of locks clicking into place, then hollow footsteps tapping on white marble. Then silence.
Lenalee huddled in a corner, willing herself not to cry.
Where are you? Will you come?
20 July, Unknown time, Unknown Room, Xak-1.
Two cloaked figures sat in the far shadows of the room, shrouded in darkness.
There was a heavy clang as a door swung open, and a lone figure walked in. A gun was drawn in the darkness. The figure was stout and small-sized; the light from the small oil lamp he carried reflected off his big glasses.
"Licence to connect," he said to the darkness.
The lights of the room came on, controlled by Kanda's remote; Lavi holstered the gun. The young man smiled wide. "I am Trout, as you already know. And you might be L and K?"
"Yes," Lavi answered as he threw back his hood. Kanda made no move to do the same. "Nice to meet you, Trout!"
"You too," Trout beamed. Drawing a stack of loose papers from inside his jacket, he set it down on the table in front of Lavi and Kanda. "This is the report that I submitted to Chief R two days ago. I work down in the Labs, managing LA-6 to LA-10. I trust that you know the layout of the area already."
"LA-1 to LA-10 are connected by the same corridor, C-05, just at different ends. LA-1 is at the extreme left while LA-10 is at the extreme right when entering via doorway D-003," Lavi murmured, eye raking over the papers. "Doorway D-003 is a back entrance to the Labs, as LA-1 to LA-5 are connected by corridor C-01, doorway D-010 and LA-6 to LA-10 are connected by corridor C-02, doorway D-023."
Impressed, Trout nodded and continued. "I am stationed in corridor C-05, the back entrance and exit for all the labs. It is a rare sight for me to see more than 5 people in the corridor on any one day. Normally, only research scientists like me use C-05 as it is inaccessible and inconvenient.
"Five days ago, I was doing my work when there was a commotion right outside D-003. A group of people, clad in gray and gold, entered C-05. They wore emblems on their uniforms, a badge with a pattern of seven stars."
"The NOAH."
Trout nodded. "They had gained access to the back doors of the labs, and I could see no reason to forbid them from going in. They had access cards and were being led by one of our own lab technicians, so I assumed they were just coming in to see our lab facilities.
"The next day, they came in again without the lab technician. They entered LA-1, stayed for a couple of hours and came out. They exited the lab with extremely satisfied looks on their faces, and I overheard one of them saying something along the lines of 'The preparations are coming along well, Earl.'
"The man she was talking to didn't say anything but grinned and walked out of the door.
"After wards, when it was closing time, I asked the Section Leader in charge of LA-1 to LA-5 what the NOAH members were doing inside the lab. He said something about an experiment to activate a gene, but the exact details were unknown to him as well. It sounded fishy enough to warrant a report to Chief R. I have seen them almost daily since the first time they came in, but they always come in at different hours."
Lavi paused. Gene activation. It had been mentioned in the report that the Captain had given him before they were dispatched. It seemed like there was something going on down here after all. Tapping his chin in consideration, he mapped out a scheme of action in his head. "Could you possibly help us procure access to the labs in the next few days? We aim to leave this place as soon as possible."
Trout nodded. "Definitely."
Lavi looked at his fellow cloaked partner, who had not spoken a word throughout and did not seem inclined to do so in the near future. "Alright, that should be all for now, Trout. Thank you so much for the help. We will contact you again if we need help."
Trout's eyes crinkled as he bowed slightly. "Glad to be of help."
As he turned away back to the door that he had come from, the lights went out again.
20 July, 1630hrs, Room 381, Xak-1
"Say, Yuu, any idea what we should do?" Lavi drawled.
"No. You're the fucking strategist here, moron."
Lavi groaned as he sprawled on his back. "I don't know what we can do because we don't know what we're up against!"
"Shouldn't we check out the other two places Chief shortlisted before we even plan our next move?"
"But… Lenalee." The last word came out soft, almost a whisper.
Kanda's head turned around so fast his long ponytail slapped Lavi in the face. "What?"
"Oh, nothing. Just… thinking."
Kanda frowned. He could have sworn that he had heard Lavi mention a name that he had not heard in almost a decade.
"Anyway, since today is a Monday, Chief has ordered that we investigate Point X tonight. Curfew here starts at 0100hrs, so we must be out by 0000hrs and be able to avoid any detection by patrols until 0300hrs at Point X."
"Easier said than done," Kanda grumbled, lying down. The digital clock on the wall read 1635hrs.
"I'm going to rest before –" Lavi stopped when he heard light snoring coming from his comrade's bed.
21 July, 0255hrs, Point X, Xak-1
Kanda was irritated and grumpy, having been forcibly dragged out from their hotel room three hours prior by the annoying redhead he had as a partner. They were currently lying flat on their stomachs inside a deep crater, a safe distance away from the empty space between the buildings, but much closer than the buildings were. He had all his warrior-honed senses on high alert, and was soon able to detect the sound of footsteps. Placing his ear to the ground, he could hear three sets of footsteps – one light, one heavy, one stumbling and tripping. The only logical conclusion he could come to was that there were two captors and one captive, likely a test subject of some form or another.
Raising three fingers to Lavi, who had been waiting for his signal, they raised tentative eyes over the edge of the crater. The empty space where Point X was now held three figures, one of them with hands and mouth bound. From what Kanda's hawk eyes could see, the captive was a female, with limp ragged hair that fell around her face. She appeared to be a typical civilian, with no visible physical modifications. One of the captors – a man, with dark wavy hair – stepped towards her, His accomplice, a tall blonde lady with hair tied up in a ponytail, moved behind the captive, deftly removing the gag around her mouth.
There was silence as the man handed the woman a small capsule, likely a pill of some sort. She slipped it between the captive's lips and tilted her head back to force her to swallow. The captive was strangely pliant and obedient, which led Lavi to believe that she was doing so of her own free will. But for what? The captive fell limp. The two captors stood above her body.
The lady stroked the captive's face with an almost curious gentleness, while pulling out from her coat a glowing jar. The jar was not glowing per se; rather it was the substance within the jar that glowed a strangely terrifying purple colour. She opened the jar and tipped the contents down the captive's throat. There was a gurgling sound, followed by a grotesque silence. What happened next was something Kanda and Lavi never wished to witness ever again. A shriek that tore through the silence as a knife slices through paper rang in the silent night as the face of the girl slowly contorted itself, delving more and more into shadowed features. Her skin became blackened, and the man let out a sigh.
"Lulubell, it's still not working. There's something wrong with that gene still. We've been creating Akuma for the past month, not a single success at all."
The woman - Lulubell - grimaced. "I've told the Earl, but he says he needs more time to perfect the activation. Apparently something's gone wrong back on home ground and they can't do it as quickly as they should have." From her duffel bag, she pulled out a black laboratory coat and handed it to the… Akuma. Wild, deadened eyes stared straight at Kanda's hiding spot for a moment, empty black boring into flaming black. Then the Akuma turned away, draping the coat on, back slightly bowed.
Lavi's eye scanned the area. There was no reason why the five buildings surrounding this place would not have heard the screams or seen the entire thing – unless. His gaze landed on an almost-invisible electronic barrier. Of course. They had used a barrier that created a visual illusion and soundproofed the immediate vicinity. As Kanda and he were lying within the barrier's range, they were able to witness everything but those in the buildings could not. Those beyond the immediate vicinity would not experience the same soundproofing effect and therefore had reported the screams as well. However, their reports would have been unsubstantiated as those closest to the area were unaffected. It all made sense now that Lavi thought about it.
"Let's go. Hopefully by the next time things will be better." The man said, turning away from the other two and walking off with quick strides. The other two were silent as they followed suit.
Kanda and Lavi lay on the edge of the crater for a while more, until they saw the electronic barrier dissolve. Letting out a long breath, Kanda let himself relax. The curfew lasted until 0600hrs. The small digital clock on the inside of his jacket read 0545hrs. The experiment – torture – whatever the fuck you could call it – had lasted near two hours. The two pilots were silent, lost in their thoughts and shock over what they had witnessed. The mothership would have to be informed as quickly as possible.
21 July, 1345hrs, WA-9, Xak-1
The pilots had managed to sneak into the warehouse through the use of Komui's newest invention, a concealment device that temporarily distorted camera signals and granted them the ability to move around undetected for periods of time. Right now, they were running on two hours of concealment and the clock was ticking.
The warehouse initially had seemed empty, but was in fact much wider than they expected. "Falsifying depth perception," Kanda had muttered as he walked towards the end of the warehouse, only to find it was not actually the end.
Lavi soon found himself in a maze of cylinders, big enough to contain a human being. They were scattered in the shadows of the warehouse, which was soundless and dark. Deciding to take a chance, Lavi placed his eye in front of one of the cylinders.
He found himself face-to-face with a sleeping human, malnourished and pale. On the human's collarbone he could see seven crosses, bloody tattoos on white skin. There was some form of liquid – probably a life-sustaining liquid – surrounding the human, and the body was connected to tubes and catheters. Lavi took a deep breath to steel himself. The rumours had been true. The NOAH was carrying out experiments and they were not for the betterment of humanity.
He activated the IntelSensor, a lens that could analyze substances and objects without direct contact. Another creation of Komui's, it had aided in many missions prior and would do the same now. He ran the sensor over the surface of the cylinder, waiting a few seconds before the reading was complete and the virtual dialogue appeared.
[Species: Human, Race: Crest, Status: undefined, Temperature: -196.0 °C] [Substance: Liquid Nitrogen, Concentration: 50.0 mol dm-3, Pressure: 22 psig]
"Cyrogenics," Lavi muttered. "They're keeping these Crests alive for something. Probably their test subjects for that gene activation experiment. Except that they keep going wrong."
"…fifty, fifty-one, fifty-two." Kanda said, walking between the rows of cylinders. "They have fifty-two more to go through. Assuming they've carried out experiments like the one we saw today for three times a week for the past month, adding on to the one we witnessed, that makes a total of sixty-five test subjects."
"Monsters," Lavi hissed. "Nothing more than a bunch of monsters. Kidnapping so many – so many innocents – and then – Lenalee –"
"Who is she? This Lenalee you speak of." Kanda cut in abruptly. "You've mentioned her more than once now."
Lavi looked up, frantic and furious at himself for the slip of his tongue. "I'll tell you more when we get back."
Kanda scowled, but let the matter drop.
They did another visual inspection of the place, taking a few photographs with the IntelSensor, and made to leave. Slightly less than an hour left on the clock. The corridor was quiet as they hastened back.
21 July, 1603hrs, Room 381, Xak-1
Sitting down in the armchair, Lavi switched on his Cyndal. He had just begun to consolidate the report for Europa regarding both Point X and WA-9 when a coded message came in through his inbox. It was a message from Europa: "To evacuate immediately. Retrieve Trout and Informant Peck at 1710hrs, (230.19, 948.27)."
Lavi blinked. Something must have gone really wrong along the way if the Captain was ordering their evacuation with such short notice. "Yuu, they've ordered our evacuation. Right now."
Kanda, who had been hunched over his case of belongings, grunted in acknowledgment. "Stop calling me that, moron," he said as he stood up. As he did so, his hand swiped to the floor the pen they had taken apart the day before. It chipped slightly, and a red laser light shone from its tip. An audio recorder. Kanda and Lavi paled, before the former swore under his breath and stamped on the pen. "Goddamn fucking thing. We leave now," he ordered, grabbing his case and swinging it over his back. Lavi followed.
They raced down the corridor, keeping their eyes open for any signs of enemies. Check-out was faster than usual, but still all too long when time was against them. "Make for the port," Kanda said as they ran through the lobby of the North Spire.
The moment they had made it out of the North Spire, they sprinted to the port – only to find themselves surrounded by gray-and-gold suited gunmen midway through an abandoned estate. Kanda uttered another beautiful curse word even as he whipped out his handgun and attacked. Lavi did the same, making a break for the port when the gunmen were distracted by Kanda.
As he ran, there was a whistle and then impact. He felt the bullet embed itself in his side, and cursed. Without stopping to look back, he clutched the wound and sprinted the final distance to the port. Leaping into Hammer's cockpit, he ripped out his jacket to staunch the wound, at the same time ordering Nadir to prepare for launch. He glanced at the clock; it was 1645hrs, barely time for them to pick up their informants. He would have to take the off-chance, then. Kanda could not enter the port, brandishing a gun as he was. Neither could the gunmen; Space Protocol banned any weaponry in neutral ports, and the NOAH could be easily put on trial for breaking such a fundamental law.
"18 is ready for launch!" Nadir offered. Lavi put on a grim smile.
"18, launch!" as he tugged on the throttle. "Oryx, deactivate Mugen's camouflage."
"Roger, roger!"
From his dashboard, Lavi could see Mugen's form slowly take shape. The docked suits exited the port with a roar, just where Kanda was engaged in his gunfight. "Oryx, open the hatch?" Lavi asked.
"Roger," Oryx replied. "Opening cockpit hatch in 3, 2, 1!"
Even as Oryx opened the hatch, Kanda jumped up with flawless, practiced precision, shooting away at the NOAH gunmen all the while. In the few seconds between him entering the cockpit and activating Mugen, Lavi returned fire for the dark-haired pilot using Hammer. Faced with a mobile suit as an opponent, the gunmen took cover and Lavi let out a ragged breath.
"Activate all forms of camouflage, Nadir and Oryx."
"Roger!"
As the camouflage took shape, Lavi hurriedly keyed in the pair of co-ordinates the mothership had sent him. It was northwest of the Port, surrounded by gray space dunes and empty craters. They had no sooner touched down that Lavi could make out two figures, one short and one tall, both wearing gray cloaks. One of them, the shorter one, Lavi recognized as Trout. "Open cockpit!" he shouted, simultaneously throwing down rescue lines. Both Mugen and Hammer's cockpit hatches opened, and they hoisted one informant into each cockpit. "Welcome onboard, Trout!"
The cockpits had barely resealed themselves, Trout still finding his footing in the narrow cockpit, when there was rapid dust and energy movement – yet another ambush, this time by multiple mobile suits.
"Usagi," Kanda's voice shouted over the system. "I'm separating."
"Roger," Lavi answered, pressing his makeshift bandage to his waist and trying not to wince. "Nadir, prepare for formation breakage. Hammer, activate Flame-Mode: Scythe!" a silver scythe appeared in Hammer's fists, glinting an ominous red as Lavi raised its arms towards the mobile suits.
Behind him, Kanda had shouted out his own command. "Mugen, First Illusion!" A swarm of holographic insects headed in the direction of the suits, causing them to scatter in all directions. Kanda smoothly headed towards the suits on the right, Lavi turning to the left to counter. They had settled into a pattern after so many fights together, and were so attuned to each other that they could read combat situations in the same way. Striking the closest mobile suit with his flaming scythe, Lavi tore the hooked end through the head of the next suit and immediately used the momentum to throw the following suit off-balance.
"Incoming, incoming!" Nadir warned. Lavi spun around; there was the familiar light of energy charging. Photon bullets! He was off-guard and open at the back, he realized suddenly as he launched into the air, barely missing the ensuing explosion of two pairs of photon bullets hitting each other from opposite sides. He would have been a roasted suit if he had hesitated. Breathing a sigh of relief for Hammer's agility, he dodged again as three suits came after him. He could feel the slight singe at the bottom of the Innocence and groaned. Komui was going to kill him for this. But now, he had to focus on not being killed because one of the suits up in the air with him was in his blind spot – shit, Lavi thought as an explosion racked Hammer's right side. Slightly winded as he shifted out of the way of another explosion, he shouted, "Hammer, activate Shock: Barrier!" The yellow holographic wall came up about Hammer's entire body, made up of powerful but small electro waves that would mess with the other suits' systems if they came too close. He did a quick survey of the damage that had been done – some damage to the head, but nothing too extreme, no major systems disabled - before activating "Shock: Lance!"
The electro waves condensed into a sharp yellow lance, and Lavi aimed it at the suit on his right; it speared the other right through the eye and in the time it took to hit the ground, Lavi was aiming a second lance. Momentarily glancing to Kanda, he noted that Mugen was now wielding its chakram blades instead of just a sword. This was going to be a drawn out battle, and in such a colony they could not use any enhanced gunpower. Lavi sighed as he drew yet another lance. "Yuu, we run in five! Four! Three! Tw-"
His sentence was cut off by a bright explosion from where Kanda was. Lavi's heart stopped for a moment, focus shifting. "YUU!"
Kanda's screen was replaced by static, and all he could hear was Kanda and Peck's agonized groans. Shit had really happened if Kanda had been hit. As the dust from the explosion settled, he blanched. The same black-and-gold suit he had shot three days ago stood above Mugen, rifle raised and poised to attack. Its particles were purple and black, something he had never seen before on a mobile suit. But he knew enough that if that rifle was triggered, Mugen – Kanda – would be goners. His mind blank except for the singular thought of Yuu must not die, Lavi launched the lance towards the suit without a second thought, while sending Hammer flying towards Mugen. The NOAH suit raised its shield, as Hammer grabbed Mugen and reactivated Shock: Barrier, concurrently reverting to Agility Mode, which maximized speed and movement.
He pushed hard on the thrusters, and the two suits were launching off at top speed. The NOAH charged after them, but they were already escaping through the atmosphere of Xak-1. All the NOAH suits seemed to make to chase, but did not, to Lavi's surprise and relief. Even so, he did not stop with the high speed at which they were travelling until they were a good distance away from Xak-1.
"Oryx! Oryx!"
There was a beeping acknowledgement from the golem, though covered by static. "I'm activating docking, please dock now!"
"Nadir, activate all forms of camouflage!"
"Roger, roger!"
Trout, who had been crouched by his pilot chair the whole while, was looking at Lavi with newfound respect. When Lavi felt the weight of the other's gaze, he raised a questioning eyebrow. Trout shrugged. "It's not every day you see someone willing to risk his own life for his comrade's."
"If I didn't, I wouldn't consider myself a comrade," Lavi replied shortly, but allowing a strained smile to grace his lips. "Yuu, Yuu, can you read?"
Oryx's beeping report came over instead, still overlaid with static. "Kanda is out cold! Science Man has injuries to his arms!"
"…Peck, right? Do you read?"
"Yes, but covered with static," the gruff voice said. "Don't worry about my arms, 'tis but a scratch. I've seen much worse. I'm trying to stop the blood loss to Pilot K. He took a hit to the head, I think."
Lavi winced, and then winced again when the action sent a shot of pain up his body. "Roger. Reever, do you read? 18 is returning to Europa, code red for Pilot 1101140401K and Mugen, code amber for Pilot 12012209L and Hammer. Current co-ordinates (1840.24, 4829.53); Requesting for reinforcements."
"Yes, request heard loud and clear. I've sent Officer 14251405N out in her suit. She will cover for you, just return as quickly as you possibly can."
"Roger." Lavi hit the throttle, for the third time in the past half hour, and felt his body fall limp. He tried to fight it, even as his sight plunged into darkness.
21 July, Unknown time, Prison Cell #08-21, Xak-4
Lenalee was curled up in the corner of the big white room, arms wrapped around her knees. A plate lay untouched in front of her, white rice with vegetables and some sort of meat. It looked bland and tasteless, and she had not the appetite to eat it. The plate was plain white, but the tray it had come on was labeled #08-21, which she figured was her cell number. They would have plenty of time to take her as hostage if anyone invaded from the ground floor.
She poked at the food, trying to ignore the bruising pain on her inner elbow where the NOAH had repeatedly taken blood samples from. She had no idea why they wanted her blood, or even why she was here. Where was Allen? He was most likely the reason why she had ended up locked up in a cell, that jerk.
She closed her eyes and let herself fall back into the comfort of her own thoughts. Inky black hair, one long and one short. One frowning with arms crossed across his chest, the other smiling as he drank a cup of coffee. They walked towards her – and past her – as they made their way into the depths of space. A few others: a blonde and a brunette, a group of faceless people, walking away from her into different places on Earth. Then a redhead appeared. His eyes were shining, bright as he looked at her, but eventually he turned away and followed the road that led to space.
All gone. She had wrapped herself in the safety of her mind, but even the memories made her chest hurt. Opening her eyes, she blinked rapidly to get rid of teardrops that had found their way into her eyes.
She sat up, straightening her back at the sound of footsteps in the corridor. She had to fight. He would come to save her, and she had to help him save her too.
A/N:
Super belated update - this chapter has been in my computer since August, but I've been too busy with college to update or write new chapters.
I'm of two minds as to whether I should continue writing this. It's my first time writing a space-based story so a lot of terms are unfamiliar to me, and I have to say that writing the three chapters I have done so far has been a Herculean task. (really, watching all those Gundam shows does not really contribute to your understanding of how the mobile suit system works - great thanks to the DGrayman Wikia, Gundam Wikia and Wikipedia for helping me so much.)
Even so, I really enjoy writing this space!AU, but at the same time I recognize that there isn't much of an audience in the DGrayman fandom for space!fiction.
Anyway, I'm already starting on Chapter 4, so this story will be around for a couple more chapters at least.
Please leave comments and let me know what you think!
There is a graphic inserted to visually represent the layout of the laboratories as described by Lavi to Trout. The link is found on my profile, and the image was made with Google SketchUp 8.