HOOOOOLY SHIIIIT! Dude, this thing is over 8,500 words long (without my A/N to boot!)
Be proud of me, my peeps!
This chapter is dedicated to: lyndyloowho
She sent me a message guys! *blushes*
This is one of my less popular stories, so it was so heart-warming to hear that someone was waiting eagerly for an update on one of my personal favorites to write.
I told her that it would be out by last weekend, but as you can see, this chapter turned out to be a monster. I literally stayed up all night writing this. At least you're getting your money's worth, no?
WARNING: Things get hella real towards the end of this chapter. Prepare thy feels~~~~~
Also, in case you can't remember their numbers:
Deidara - Spartan 023
Sakura - Spartan 087
Sasori - Spartan 096
Itachi - Spartan 113
Konan - Spartan 256
Federation year 316 (twenty years prior to Bijuu encounter)
"Are you fucking insane?" The kid hissed as his friends (a loose term for sure) led them through the shadowed hallways of the base. "There's cameras all over this place!"
"Which is why I convinced 96 to hack into the security systems and cover us." The blonde at the head of their little group whispered over his shoulder.
The other kid that he spoke to choked. "Wha- What?! How the hell did you get him to do that?"
The blonde one, 23 to those who knew him, smirked. "He does nice things for his friends, un."
"He doesn't have friends." 113 deadpanned.
"Well, I'm the closest thing then." 23 replied.
"Will both of you shut up?" A low female voice snapped, a tall young girl with blue hair pushed them forward. "The guards are still making their rounds."
"I still say this is a bad idea." The other boy muttered, running his hands through his black hair nervously.
"You can stay behind, you know." Another female voice spoke up, this one softer, though in no way gentle. "There's still time for you to turn back. We won't begrudge you for not coming."
"I will!" 23 piped up.
A small, pink-haired child slapped the back of his head. "Shut it."
113 glanced at the girl with 087 stitched onto her uniform. He hesitated, and then shook his head. "No. If you're going, then I'm going."
The loud blonde snickered. "Oh man, he has it bad, yeah."
256 rolled her eyes and slapped his head again. "Keep moving. We have a small window of opportunity."
The rag-tag group of child soldiers crept through the hallways of the space station, dodging patrolling marines and distracted scientists. Reaching the hangar, they stayed in the shadows as they slipped down to the lower loft, where the smaller ships were stationed. 256 led them to a small fighter spacejet, jumping onto its platform and beginning to hack into its system.
"Keep a look out." She ordered her fellows as her fingers flew across the screen, unlocking the security systems and mainhub. "Okay, I'm in."
The hatch slid open with a hiss. The four children scrambled into the hull, 256 was last as she set the system for automatic discharge. Darting into the main pilot seat, 256 brought the machine online and continued to type.
"Listen up guys." She said sternly as she secured her seat restraints. "The moment this ship releases, not even 96 can prevent the station from noticing its departure. I'm going to turn off its tracking beacon. All nuke-fusion properties must remain off until we are out of range of the station's sonar."
The young girl took a huge breath and let it out slowly, her fingers curling around the jet's wheel. She and her companions took out the ship's face masks and strapped them on, flicking on the oxygen breathers.
The comms system lit up briefly, flashing the number of an unknown signal.
*shhhh shhhh*
"Guys?" 96's voice whispered loudly in the ship's hull.
"We're in." 23 answered his partner in crime.
"There's nothing more I can do from here." 96 spoke over the radio. "I can jam their systems for five minutes, but that's all you'll get."
"That will be plenty of time." 256 replied confidently.
They heard 96 huff. "Don't plug in your destination's coordinates until you are out of their reach - "
"We know." 256 interrupted impatiently.
96 made a disgusted sound at her. "Fine. Get moving. And... good luck."
His signal went offline, and 256 snapped off the transmission reciever. The ship shuddered as the automatic discharge was triggered, the clamps around the ship releasing as it deported from its docking station. The lights in the hangar began to flash bright red and orange as the hangar sealed its doors and the garage pressurized, its panel opening into empty space.
The jet slid backwards, heavy metal moving slowly without the aid of gravity. 256 bit her tongue as she guided the controls, 023 and 087 taking over the internal controls while she drove the ship. Above their heads, the light for the jet's reciever blinked rapidly as the space station attempted to contact them. They ignored it.
Finally the ship dropped into empty space, floating aimlessly for a moment beneath the hangar. Then 256 ignited the engines, and a lazy blue glow erupted from the thrusters.
"Hang on." Was all the warning 256 gave her peers before she thrust the controller forward, and the ship shot away from the station.
87 and 113 immediately grabbed their chairs, thankful for the seat belts across their chests and laps. 23 cursed under his breath from the sudden movement.
"And they think I went crazy after Augmentation." 23 muttered.
"I'm not the pyromaniac." 256 drawled into her comm speaker as she steered the ship away from the space station at the fastest speed that it could go.
"Why did you come again?" 23 growled as he gripped his seat.
256 snickered. "For moral support."
"Moral support my ass." 23 muttered.
"Both of you, pay attention!" 113 snapped as his gaze fell on their radar.
87 tapped her own screen, green eyes reflecting the neon glow. "The station will be back online in T-minus 60 seconds!" She exclaimed in a hard voice. "We aren't out of their range yet."
256 moved the control forward and down, and the thrusters flared as she kicked the jet into overdrive.
"Do it!" 87 ordered.
256 reached up and flicked several switched above their heads, the lights and controls blaring loudly through the speakers of their helmets.
"Preparing for slip-space rupture." She spoke in a calm voice which belied their situation.
87 tapped her screen. "Now! We have ships in pursuit!"
The other female nodded. "Teleporting in 3... 2... 1..."
There was a hum that filled the air, growing so loud that they could feel it in their bones. The children grit their teeth as the hum turned into a powerful vibration that shuddered throughout the entire hull, pressurizing their ears and shaking their teeth. They squeezed their eyes shut as a bright light seemed to encompassed the entire ship, and the black void of space ripped open before them.
A tear in space - also known as a slip-space rupture.
The next galaxy over yawned before them, light years of travel meaningless in its wake. 256 pushed the jet forward, the gravity-well created by the tear sucking the ship into its center. They felt their bodies tremble as their molecules resisted the pull. The tear spat their ship out into the galaxy system 984, the rupture making a shushing sound as it snapped closed behind them.
For a moment, all was silent and the ship hung listlessly in space, drifting while its occupants got a hold on themselves.
256 was the first to shake herself from her stupor, touching the holoscreens to re-activate the jet's system. The radar came back online with the sound of blips and beeps, and the reciever blinked once to show that it was active.
"Congratulations everyone." 256 spoke into her comm with a dry voice. "We've survived our first slip-space rupture."
"Ugh..." 23 rubbed his helmet in a vain attempt to alleviate his headache. "Remind me never to do that again."
"We're Spartans." 113 deadpanned. "We'll be doing teleportation a lot in our careers."
23 just groaned in response.
"23, we need your coordinates now." 87 interrupted his whining.
The boy snapped back to attention and looked down at his holoscreen, fingers tapping across the board. "Entering coordinates now."
*beep beep*
87 froze as she stared at the screen, and then looked over at 23 seated on her left. "Iwa Colony?"
23 just nodded.
"Heh, I should have figured." She chuckled into her comm unit. "256, ya got that?"
"Yup." The pilot responded, and their jet jolted forward as it swung in the direction of planet 546.
They traveled the rest of the way in silence, save for the beeps and clicks and whirs of the ship. It took them another hour to reach the outskirts of the inner system, despite traveling at light speed.
"I assume you have a plan to get past their planetary defenses?" 87 suddenly spoke up with her usual snark. "Preferably without us having to check in with their air force."
Because that would go over well. 'Sorry sirs, the reason why we are missing our papers and passports is because we technically don't exist, since we were kidnapped by the government and raised as science experiments'. Yeah, no problems there at all.
"This is an ONI ship." 256 informed them. "Its technologies are far ahead the rest of the Federation's hardware. It has a built-in cloaking device that none of the Federation systems will be able to detect."
87 stared at her for a moment. "Well... I guess that'll do."
256 glanced back, her visor hiding her eyes as she stared at 23. "But Iwa is a large planet either way. I hope you know where exactly you want us to land?"
"I have an idea." 023 replied with uncharacteristic severity. He glanced down at a piece of paper that he had hidden in up his sleeve, hastily-written digits and codes scrawled across its surface. He brought up the ship's GPS system and selected 'Iwa', and then punched in another set of numbers.
"Here," He pointed as a 3-D hologram of Iwa Colony projected into the middle of the hull. The rest of his peers turned in their seats to face it. "The location is in the northern hemisphere, on this continent here."
256 carefully studied the location that he pointed at. "Okay, I think that will work..." She muttered as she swivelled around in her chair and took the controls.
They approached the planet's atmosphere carefully, 87 and 113 keeping an eye on the planetary defenses and radar. 256 had been right about the cloaking device - nothing sensed their approach. They exited lightspeed as they reached the outskirts of the planet's atmosphere, their seat belts once again straining at the sudden change in velocity. After almost running into a satellite, they managed to enter Iwa's atmosphere, again having to brace themselves as the jet shuddered and bumped against the sudden forces of gravity.
"Switching to manual thrust." 256 spoke into her comm as she slid down a switch and flicked another one on. Now the thrusters on the ship glowed yellow instead of blue, the engine switching from nuke-fusion to petroleum.
"Bring up a geographical map of the area." 113 suddenly spoke up. "We'll need to land this thing in a place no one will find it."
87 was already on it, the hologram in the middle of the hull flickering into a green and brown picture as a projection of the region lit up their visors. A red dot marked the place where 23 planned to infiltrate. The hologram zoomed out as 87 scanned the land, searching for a proper location for their ship to touch down.
"Here." She murmured, marking a flat plane in the middle of the forest, far away from civilization. She sent the coordinates to 256's screen, and the pilot adjusted their course accordingly.
Despite that their jet was considerd a 'small' spacecraft, it still barely fit into the forest clearing. 256 managed the land the ship pretty cleanly, despite her youth. Prior to this, her only experience in flight craft was flying simulators for the Spartan program and a few in-space flying lessons. Tertiary landing was still new to her, so their landing was bumpy to say the least. As their ship's thrusters turned off, and the jet dropped the last few meters onto land. It's landing gears creaked at the force of impact, the entire hull shuddering.
"Shit!" 023 squeaked as they landed hard in their seats.
"My ass..." 087 groaned as she slowly unbuckled her restraints.
113 and 256 merely grunted at the impact, and then withheld their complaints as they finally stood from their seats.
256 put the ship's systems in 'docked' mode, although she kept the cloaking device on to keep the planet's airforce from sensing any foreign energy signals. She locked the piloting system and them flicked the switch to open the hatch.
*Hisssssssssssss*
The hull depressurized, and they suddenly felt their skin prickled as fresh air rushed in. The children stood frozen for a moment, staring up at the open sky thorugh the visors of their helmets.
023 was the first to move, slowly bringing his arms up to switch off his oxygen mask.
87 snapped her hand out, grasping his arm in a vice-like grip. "Are... are you sure it's safe?" She asked in an unusually nervous voice.
The boy scoffed. "This is a terrestrial planet. Humans live just fine here."
"I know that!" 87 snapped, but that did not quell her unease. To be honest, this was her first time on a real planet since she had been taken from Spring Colony. For the past couple years, she had been subjected to a simulated atmosphere, and she no longer knew how to react to a real one.
Despite his bravado, 23 felt his hands tremble as he lifted his helmet off of his head, holding his breath. His first reaction was to hiss, as the brightness of the sun cut into his vision without the aid of a visor to dull its light. Then, he breathed in.
His heart fluttered in his chest.
Air. Real air.
Not filtered and sanitized, dry and stale.
This air was dirty, filled with so many scents that he thought his nose would overload. Organic smells filled the air, the scents of plants and animals, floral and musky and humid all at once.
He took another deep breath, feeling something prick his eyes.
The wind picked up, and for the first time he felt the air catch on his blonde hair, tangling the locks and whipping against his cheeks.
He laughed in wonder.
Slowly, the children next to him followed his lead. 113 was the first, flicking off his oxygen supply and unbuckling his helme, pulling it up and off of his head. Black hair fell down to frame his face, black eyes flickering around them cautiously, narrowing at the unexpected brightness of the sun. His expression remained carefully stoic.
87 followed suit, pulling off her helmet with only a moment's hesitation, holding her breath. Pink bangs felt forward into her face, tickling her nose. With her first breath of natural air, her nose uncontrollably twitched and then -
"Achoo!"
She sneezed violently. Her head shot up to stare at her fellows with surprise, her green eyes shooting wide at the unexpected reaction. Her lips were parted in a small 'o' as she tapped her nose in confusion.
23 turned to her with a grin, laughing at her apparent confusion. Even 113 looked amused. Then all three children turned to the final member of their party. 256 remained carefully still, watching them all nervously.
"...it's okay." 87 whispered to the girl. "You'll be okay."
256 visibly shook as her gloved hands reached up towards her helmet. She flicked off the oxygen supply and slowly unbuckled its straps. Then she grasped the edges of her helm, pausing as she hesitated again. 113 sent her an encouraging nod, and she slowly pulled off the helmet, revealing a head of close-cropped blue hair. Her face underneath was scrunched up as she kept her eyes squeezed shut and plugged her nose.
23 chuckled. "The air isn't going to hurt you!" He told her, and then pointed at 87. "She just sneezed, that's all it was."
256 squinted one eye open, then shut it quickly as the sun invaded her vision. She waited another moment before she dared to open her eyes again, her pupils dilating and adjusting to the foreign sun. Then she un-scrunched her face, and carefully took a light whiff of the air. The girl blinked in surprise, and then took another breath.
"What... what is a sneeze?" She finally spoke up.
23 opened his mouth to answer, but then paused in confusion. "Well... I don't know how to describe it. But it's what 87 just did!"
"Very helpful." 113 muttered dryly, earning himself a dirty look from the blonde boy.
The children stood in the open hatch of the jet, overlooking the clearing around them. They stared at the clarity of the colors, so used to the muted color scheme of the military. But out here, the green was nearly overwhelming. There were just so many sights and sounds and smells! The leaves whispering in the wind, the cries of birds and other animals, the unfamiliar and overwhelming number of scents in the air!
87 shook herself out of her stupor, reaching down to her seat and grabbing a small device and strapping it to her wrist. A rectangular screen lit up, and her fingers pressed several buttons.
"Iwa Colony." She spoke, gaining the attention of her peers. "According to my calculations, the time here is approximately 23:45. Iwa has 48-hour days, so it is currently midday for them."
"Plenty of time." 23 murmured.
"Yes, well, we still need to get moving." 113 placed his hands on his hips as he glanced around. "We don't know how long it will take ONI to track us down."
They children climbed out from the hull, sliding down the side of the jet and landing in a roll on the ground nearly two meters down.
When 87 rolled to a stop, she paused before standing up. She reached forward and touched the ground gently, running her fingers through the blades of grass. It was so strange - soft and yet gritty. There was a film over the leaves, which caused friction between the pads of her fingers and the surface of the grass. And the ground, it was so... lumpy. Her feet were constantly adjusting to its surface.
"The ground..." 256 whispered beside her, just as mesmerized by its strange texture. The blue-haired girl froze when she saw a little white flower growin in a patch of grass, and with trembling fingers, she picked it. She slowly brought it to her face, and then carefully took a whiff of its petals. 256 frowned. "It doesn't smell very pretty..." She sighed with disappointment.
113 seemed amused as the wind tangled his shoulder-length hair. He held up a hand, reveling in the feel of the wind sifting through his fingers. He slowly closed his fingers into a fist, as if he could capture the air.
"Let's move." 23 finally interrupted their explorations.
They all snapped to attention and gathered together, unconsciously falling into a military diamond formation. 87 took point, as she had the comm device on her wrist with a map of the area and a compass pointing them in the direction of their target. 113 and 256 flinched at every sound, their fingers curling nervously.
"Wish we had brought some weapons..." 256 muttered. She glanced down at their training uniforms and plucked at the fabric. "And armor too." She added.
Their uniforms were made of a thick, woven material. It was an off-white shirt and pant duo, the shirt straight and square-shaped like a Chinese shirt. Their pants were similarly formless, with the only adjustments being the length of their legs. The only other color to the unifrom was the muted green trim around the cuffs and on the seams. There were two buttons at the collar, polished metal that gleamed dully like platinum. The only decoration on their clothing was a patch on their left breast, in the same muted green as their trimmings - their identifying numbers.
Standard military boots crunched on the forest floor, twigs and leaves and soil all an unfamiliar feeling beneath their feet. 87 gasped when a bug landed on her, and nearly jumped a foot in the air. She was thankful that she was at least able to hold in her scream (23 would never have let her live that down).
They walked slowly through the unfamiliar woods, their only guidance being the comm device on 87's arm. The children had to pick their way through the tangle of forest, tall grass and low-hanging tree branches causing frequent delays. 23 couldn't help but marvel at every little thing that they passed. He was fascinated by the variety in the bugs, from wings to antennae to beetle shells to the many legs of a spider. 256 kept pausing to stare at every flower, tracing their petals with quivering fingers, rubbing their smooth petals. 113 kept glancing up at the tree tops, squinting to peek at the sky between the branches.
"How far until civilization?" 23 finally whined after they had been walking for more than an hour or two.
87 tapped her screen and zoomed out on the map. "The nearest city is still five miles away."
"Psh, that's nothing." 23 scoffed. "We can run that much!"
"And sweat in our uniforms?" 256 asked dryly.
"We're already sweating in them." 113 pointed out. He had a point.
So they began to jog the last stretch, jumping over fallen branches and dodging holes in the ground. Despite the fact that Spartan trainees ran seven or eight miles every morning, these last five miles seemed far more exhausting with the added obstacles of hills and streams and various other forest debris. But finally, the woods began to thin out, and they found themselves on the edge of a manicured field.
Off in the distance, a city stood tall against the empty sky, gleaming like a gem under the sun.
87 glanced at the device on her wrist. "Iwa Capital City." She read the title of the metropolis before them off of her map.
113 walked on, and the others followed him. They strode along an overgrown road which seemed to lead straight into the city. As they approached the buildings, the children began to feel very small. The closer they got, the more the many towers seemed to loom in the sky, millions of glass windows glinting like cold eyes, gazing down at them without feeling.
The first signs of the city was the ever-increasing amount of buildings. Suddenly the roads before them were well-used, with cracks and potholes littering its path. The buildings around them were mostly dilapidated - broken windows, gaping doorways, broken porches. Everything seemed abandoned. They glimpsed one or two rugged-looking men hunched over in the alleyways, sleeping curled up against the walls, swathed in oversized jackets. The hostile eyes of strangers lingered on the wandering children, and they drew closer to each other for comfort.
They continued down the streets. The amount of people steadily increased, most of them shady characters that lingered in the shadows and studied them with wary eyes. Some of the men leered at the girls, while a woman or two sneered at them about 'free-range mongrels'. It was a wonder that no one actually bothered to assault them - well, it was pretty obvious that all they had was the clothes on their backs (save for 87's comm device, but she had kept it carefully hidden under her sleeve).
113 glimpsed neon lights at the end of one of the alleys, and pulled 87 towards it, 256 and 23 following behind.
They exited the alley and found themselves in an entirely different part of town. Now the streets were no longer made of concrete or asphalt. Instead, glowing pathways lit up the night as hovercars zoomed through the city, both near the ground and up above them in the sky-streets. In front of them, the sidewalks levitated, pathways built from plasterglass gleaming under the constant glow of neon lights. Signs all around them flashed with unfamiliar logos and words that made little sense (they could read them, but some of the slang was beyond comprehension).
The children remained in the shadows of the alleyway as they stared at the pedestrians with wide eyes. The people here were all dressed differently - not one military uniform in sight! Men in strange shirts with words - some of them highly offensive - and wearing pants that were definitely below the waist, which would have been a huge no-no in the military. Women wore dresses - something that the girls had only ever heard about. Other women were dressed in strikingly provacative clothing, a shirt with only one sleeve, crop tops that showed off their stomachs (some even had their belly-button pierced!), and shorts that seemed to barely cover their butt cheeks. "Wow..." 23 breathed as he gazed at the sheet number of people that walked to and fro.
Sounds and smells assaulted their senses yet again. Something was frying, and it smelled delicious. People laughed and talked and yelled, voices high and low, children and adults. Teenagers passed them with backpacks and holo-phones, a couple men walked by with beers in hand, someone yelled into their phone while another person walked a dog-like creature.
The young Spartans froze when a small family walked by them, a mother holding her daughter's little hand, a man nearby with a smile on his face as he cradled a sleeping boy in his arms.
113 felt his hands curl into fists, his nails digging into his palms. A gentle hand touched his, and he glanced over to see 87 give him a sad smile.
23 cleared his throat. "How are we going to find anyone in this?" He whispered, finally revealing his nervousness.
The pink-haired girl returned her attention to her device, pushing back her sleeve to reveal its screen. "Well, the address that you acquired is located in the suburbs - east of our postition and outside of the main city."
Without another word, they nodded to each other and straightened their backs, stepping out into the neon glow of the city. The plasterglass sidewalk felt familiar beneath their feet - not like the lumpiness of natural ground. They stuck close together, nearly glued to each other's sides as they navigated the crowds, shying away from contact with strangers. Only a few people noted their strange uniforms, one or two staring at them with furrowed brows. They heard whispers follow them - 'Military students?' 'No, too young.' 'Must be private school.'
The gossiping was harmless however, as no one made any move to actually speak to them. They walked quickly down the sidewalks, occasionally flinching at the loud roar of a hover-engine, or the loud ring of a holo-phone.
"It says here that we can take a shuttle." 87 murmured to her peers as she read one of the signs lining the sidewalks.
"A shuttle to where?" 256 asked.
"It's something called 'public transportation'." 87 answered. "It takes us... well, anywhere. So long as we board the right one."
"And where do we find this?" 113 asked.
87 glanced around. Her eyes lit up one she recognized the logo she had seen on the advertisement. "There!" She pointed to a small archway that signalled the shuttle station.
The children all walked towards the station, stopping by one of the signs that held a map of the city. 87 glanced at her device. "We are looking for... 'Hidden Stone Development'. Whatever that is..."
They all stared up at the sign, tracing various routes and reading the titles of several connecting stations.
"Looking for something?"
They all jumped as a stranger's voice addressed them. As one, the children whirled around and grouped together defensively, glaring up at the man. He was an older man, rather broad and unusually muscular for his apparent age. He had laugh lines around the corners of his mouth and an ungodly dishevelled mess of white hair that seemed to stick up and out in all directions. He wore sweatpants and a green long-sleeved shirt, with a loose red jacket over it.
"Whoa there." The man held up his hands in a calming gesture. "Sorry if I scared you kids."
They did not reply, only continuing to glare at the man in suspicion.
"Yeesh, kids are so rude these days." He muttered, eyeing the kids as they seemed to whisper between themselves, apparently deciding whether to trust him. Geez, when did kids become so cautious? In this day and age, most kids were hooligans that failed to think before they acted.
Finally, one of the boys stepped forward, squaring his shoulders and looking the man in the eye. He was rather tall for a boy of his youth, 5'8 at least, with shaggy black hair and equally dark eyes. He was the type to make all the girls swoon, if it weren't for the intensely serious expression on his face.
"We are looking for a shuttle to take us to 'Hidden Stone Development'." The boy spoke with an oddly robotic voice.
The man felt his brows rise. "That's an awfully prestigious neighborhood." His eyes trailed over their strange uniforms. "You kids get lost on your way home from private school?"
The boy seemed confused at this. "I'm sorry?"
The man huffed. "Unfamiliar with sarcasm, eh?"
The boy, and his friends, all stared up at him with unamused and seemingly soulless eyes. Okay, that was a little unnerving.
"What's with your outfits, anyway?" The man asked them as he turned his attention to the shuttle map and began to look for the route they would need to take.
"They are our uniforms." The dark-haired boy replied with a stoic tone.
The man glanced back at them with a confused look. "Ain't a school I've ever seen around here. What're your names?"
They remained eerily silent.
"Oh, well I guess that did come off a little... pervert-ish." The man winced. "I should have introduced myself first. The name's Jaraiya Gama."
The children continued to stare at him with wary expressions. Only the boy that seemed to be their leader nodded at his greeting.
"It is nice to meet you." He said, although his voice did not sound sincere at all. In fact, it sounded more like one of those telemarketer recordings.
"Normally people introduce themselves in return." The older man - Jaraiya - grumped.
The boy tilted his head. "I do not have a name."
The man froze, and stared at the boy. "I'm sorry?"
"Enough of this." One of the other kids finally spoke up, apparently losing her patience. A tall girl with close cropped blue-black hair crossed her arms. "We need to get to 'Hidden Stone Development'; preferably sometime soon."
Jaraiya frowned sent the girl a dirty look. "Kids these days..." He muttered as he turned back to the shuttle map. "Here, take this one." He tapped on of the routes, and then pointed at the shuttle number that they needed to take.
The kids didn't even look at him before they began walking away. Only the dark-haired boy paused to nod at the man in thanks, before he caught up to his friends and walked towards the stations.
87 immediately located the shuttle that would take them to their destination, quickening her steps when she realized that it was leaving in a minute. The trainees all bolted onto the shuttle car right as the doors began closing. They glanced around the shuttle, noting the variety of people that loitered within. Some sat down on the benches, some leaned against the walls, others held onto poles that stretched from floor to ceiling.
"Please keep hold onto your bags and any loose objects." A robotic voice came on the intercom. "The shuttle will be leaving shortly."
The wheels beneath the machine began to turn, and let out a hiss as it jolted forward. The children perched themselves on the edge of an empty bench, towards the back and far from the other people in the shuttle. And then the shuttle shot forward, forcing them to grip their seats a little tighter.
"Is this safe without seat belts?" 256 muttered under her breath, making 23 snicker.
The rest of the ride was in silence. The shuttle was a one-stop route, so they did not have to worry about getting off at the wrong station. It was a ten-minute ride, which went by surprisingly fast for the kids. They were too busy staring out of the windows to note the length of their travel.
The shuttle exited the station and began to circle the city. The trainees stared out at the skyscrapers and the hovercars, bright lights of every color reflecting off of the glass. Then the shuttle climbed up a slope, and they found themselves on a high rail above the ground as the shuttle traveled above the shorter buildings. This too, awed the children.
And then they were exiting the city, still on the high rail. The shuttle shot over the city outskirts and headed into the suburbs. The children stared at the houses below them, all relatively the same size and build, with manicured lawns and pools in the back yards. People walked their pets on the sidewalks below them, hovercars sailed slowly through the streets. Smaller children played in the driveways, riding bicycles or hoverboards.
It was all so... boring. But... peaceful.
These people probably had never witnessed violence. Their children did not learn how to kill a man or shoot a target from miles away. They would not learn how to fly a space craft before they learned how to drive a hovercar. Their children might never hold a gun in their lifetimes.
It came almost as a surprise as the shuttle slowed to a stop. Coming out of their stupor, the trainees stood up from their benches and exited the car, stepping onto a raised platform. The station here was much smaller than the previous one, as it seemed this was the only shuttle that docked here. The platform that they were on had a stairwell leading down into the neighborhood below.
"What house number?" 087 asked in a muted voice.
"4533907 Samite Lane." 023 whispered without taking his eyes off of the road. He had had it memorized ever since he had first hacked into ONI's file on him.
87 nodded and typed in the addressed, her comm device mapping out a path for them. They walked along the sidewalks through the neighborhood, turning several times before they found themselves on Samite Lane. They then followed the road until they neared the house number that they were looking for.
23 gulped nervously, his fingers tapping his sides nervously.
No one spoke as they walked up the pathway and into the house's coutryard. Iwa was a mostly desert or arid region, so the garden within was filled with rock art and local fauna, with a water fountain sitting in the middle of the loop. They rounded the fountain and approached the front door.
23 approached the door, wringing his hands nervously. His companions stood behind him in silent support. With a shaky hand, he knocked on the door.
No answer.
After waiting a minute, he knocked again.
Still no answer.
Glancing to the side, he noticed a sentry pad attached to the wall next to the double doors. The blonde walked over to it and pressed the call button.
"We're sorry," A female robotic voice answered. "The Bakuton family is not available at the moment. Please come back again later. If you would like to leave a message, press the green button."
With a beep, the recording cut off.
23 sagged with a mixture of relief and disappointment.
"We could go in." 256 suggested. "At least you can see what their lives are like."
"The house no doubt has a security system." 113 protested.
256 studied the sentry pad and then glanced at 23. "That pad on the side reads your handprint."
23 held up his hand and stared at it.
"Perhaps your handprint will be similar enough to activate it?" The girl suggested.
It couldn't hurt to try. 23 shrugged and placed his hand on the pad. A red line of light appeared and scanned his hand up and down for a moment. To their surprise, they heard the doors unlock.
"Welcome home, Deidara Bakuton." The robotic voice rang out.
23 froze and stared at the sentry pad, then at his hand, and then at the unlocked door.
"D-Deidara?" He whispered, looking back at the palms of his hands. So that was his name...
87 approached the double doors, which swung open automatically when she neared them.
No one said anything more as the children entered the house with cautious steps. 136 stared around him in awe. A large foyer yawned before them, leading into an open family room with a large couch and several reclining chairs. On the right wall was a large screen, nearly as large as the wall itself. On the other end of the room was a bar, and behind that there seemed to be a kitchen. Directly across from them was a wall of glass, which looked out into the backyard where a luxurious pool and grill was located. On either side of them were corridors leading into the wings of the house.
"We should split up." 113 murmured. "87 and I will go right, 23 and 256 go left."
They followed his command without argument, 23 walking left with 256 in tow. The first room he came upon was a study, which he entered. The desk was littered with papers, the walls lined with bookshelves. There was a shiny globe on one of the bookshelves, which looked to be based on Iwa Colony. 23 rounded the desk and stared at the two picture frames which sat upon it.
In one, there was a young couple. The woman had dirty blonde hair falling to her shoulders, dressed in a pretty sundress. A young man stood beside her, bright yellow hair cut close to his head, dressed in jeans and a tshirt. They both had bright blue eyes. The man was holding the woman around the waist, and they seemed to be standing in the middle of a plaza, with neon lights above them and a large decorative fountain behind them. They smiled at the pitcure, and 23 recognized the way that her eyes crinkled at the edges, and the strong jawline of the man.
In the next photo the couple appeared a few years older, though still youthful. The woman was in a hospital frock, looking dishevelled but shining with happiness. The man leaned over her as she lay in the hospital bed, smiling down at the bundle of blankets in her arms. They were both smiling down at her arms - a head of wispy blonde hair just barely visible above the blankets.
23 touched the frame with trembling fingers.
"Hey." His head snapped up at the female's voice as 256 entered the office. "The others found something."
Reluctantly, 23 nodded and drew away from the frames. He followed the girl out of the room and down the opposite wing of the house. 87 was waiting outside of one of the doorways and motioned for them to follow her in.
023 froze when he entered.
The room was obviously meant for a boy. Posters of games and cars and bands spread over the walls. The bed covers were dark blue with flames licking the edges, unmade and unkempt. A desk sat on the opposite end of the room, with a laptop computer closed shut, several books stacked haphazardly, and a board attached to the wall above the desk, upon which dozens of sketches and drawings were pinned to.
23 took a jerky step forward, glancing at the pictures that littered the room.
His face.
His face... everywhere.
Himself, with several other boys his age, pushing each other into the pool.
Himself, posing in the cafeteria of some school.
Himself, in a soccer uniform and holding up a medal with a wide grin.
They were all him... and yet they were not.
Every one of these pictures had to have been taken during his time in the SPARTAN program. He had been taken at six years old - and yet here he was, at ten, at thirteen, and fifteen. But how?
"Look." 113 spoke up.
Glancing over to where he was, 23 noticed that the nightstand next to the bed was littered with perscription drugs. He stumbled over to the nightstand and picked up the containters, reading their labels.
"Dethamexasone, idarubicine... what is all this?" 23 asked quietly.
He heard the familiar sound of 87 tapping into her comm device and waited for her answer.
"Oh..." She breathed. They all turned to face her, the girl staring at her screen. "They are treatments for leukemia."
23 raised an eyebrow at this, but no one else mentioned it.
"We should leave." 113 muttered. "We don't know when they'll return home."
With a slow nod, 23 followed his peers out of the door. But as they approached the front doors, he darted into the study and stole one of the pictures. He had always been a little selfish. His companions did not comment on this as they waited for him to rejoin them at the entrance.
They exited the building and walked back towards the sidewalk.
"What now?" 256 muttered.
At that moment, one of the neighbors exited the house next door. The elderly lady glanced over to them and smiled ignorantly.
"Oh! You must be Dei-kun's friends!" She assumed. They remained silent. "I heard that he collapsed again today, poor dear. If you are looking for him, the family hasn't returned home yet. They are still at the hospital."
113 stepped forward. "If I may ask, ma'am," The old woman tittered at his politeness, "What hospital can we find them at?"
"IwaCap Institute." The woman informed them. "Would you like a ride back to the shuttle station?"
They agreed readily, and the lady allowed them all to pile into her hovercar and drove them to the station. They exited with stiff farewells, boarding the train and heading back into the city. This time the drive was not as facinating, as they was all silent, transfixed in their thoughts. 23 kept touching his breast, the pitcure hidden within the inner pocket of his uniform seemingly burning into his soul.
When they arrived back at the main station, they checked the map for the route that would take them to the hospital and boarded the designated shuttle. The ride was much faster, as the hospital was located within the city. They hopped off the shuttle and scurried through the streets, heading for the tall and imposing building that was IwaCap Institute for Medicine and Research. They entered the doors with little trouble, and approached the front desk.
"Um, hello." 113 again took the lead and addressed the lady at the front desk. "We are here to visit... Deidara, um, Ba-ku-ton." He stumbled over the last name, hoping that he remembered it correctly.
"Oh, are you friends of his?" The lady asked as she focused on her computer screen and pulled up the information. "I hear that he had an episode during school. Just terrible!"
"Er, yes." 113 nodded, glancing back at his companions, all of whom were staring around them like lost puppies.
The woman quickly scribbled down a room number for them and sent them towards the lift, mentioning the third floor. The children all gathered into the transport and tapped the icon for the third floor, waiting in silence as they were lifted up. Upon reaching the third floor, they filed out and walked down the hallway, looking for the room number that they had been given.
"Here." 256 murmured, pointing down the hallway.
They all froze when they saw the blonde couple standing outside of the room, heads together as they murmured softly. 23 gasped and ducked behind them, glancing over 256's shoulder to stare at the familiar strangers. They looked exactly like the couple that he had seen in the pictures - two different shadesof blonde, but equally intense blue eyes. The woman sniffled into the man's shoulders, and he pulled her up and escorted her down the opposite end of the hallway.
The coast was clear.
The children scrambled down the hallway, stopping at the room next to the bench. Through the windows they could see a young boy lying on the hospital bed, bright blonde hair scattered upon the pillow, eyes closed, lips dry. There was a tube connected to his nose to help him breath, and several others inserted into his arms. He was dressed only in a hospital gown, the blankets pulled up to his waist.
23 opened the door.
"No, don't - "
But he ignored 113 and entered the room, coming to stand next to the boy on the bed. His eyes glanced over every detail of the boy's face: strong jawline, wide lips, pert nose, large round eyes, thin brows. They were identical in every way.
The boy's eyelids fluttered and 23 found himself staring back at his own reflection.
"Whoa..." The boy croaked, staring up at him with lidded eyes. "It's me..."
23 clenched his hands. "No!" He hissed back. "You're me!"
"Wha..."
But he didn't give the other blonde time to answer.
"You stole everything..." 23 hissed, but his voice grew louder with every word. "This was supposed to be mine! My life! My parents! And you took everything!"
His companions were in the room now, attempting to calm him, to shush him before someone investigated the shouting, but 23 ignored them.
"You are a lie!" 23 now screamed, tears rolling down his cheeks. His twin in the hospital bed stared back with wide eyes.
"I don't..." Medicine made the other blonde sluggish and confused. "What...?"
"YOU AREN'T REAL!" 23 was now sobbing. "You were grown from cells, in a tube! I AM THE REAL DEIDARA DAMMIT!"
"Shit!" 87 muttered as she and 133 grabbed 23 under his shoulders and dragged him out of the room. 23 didn't bother to resist anymore, just crying and cursing as his companions pulled him away.
256 remained in the room, staring down at the clone with spiteful eyes.
"You're pretty..." The boy drawled, voice low and scratchy, gaze unfocused.
"This was all a dream." 256 told him in her hypnotic voice, that low alto lulling the boy's eyes shut. "Go back to sleep..."
She pinched a nerve at the back of the boy's neck, making him fall back into unconsciousness. Then she too exited the room, the door sliding shut behind her. 113 and 87 were on either side of 23 on the bench outside of the room. 23 was clinging to 87, crying softly into her shoulder, hiccuping and shaking as he let out his tumultuous emotions.
She approached them and stood in front of 23, blocking any view of him from the front. 87 merely rested her hand on his head, while 113 stared at the hospital door with a conflicted expression.
Footsteps echoed down the lonely hallway, and they all glanced sharply to see who it was.
They froze.
The familiar winged insignia of ONI was patched onto the lab coat of the woman that approached them, pale blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail, hazel eyes regarding them coldly.
Dr. Senju.
But how? They had escaped, without anyone following them! They had disabled all of their trackers and beacons! She couldn't have arrived after them... so she must have arrived before them. But how? How did she know where they would go?
The scientist drew to a stop in front of them, still a meter or two away. Her gaze slid to the side, regarding the sleeping boy in the hospital bed, before flickering back towards 23. She caught the young Spartan's gaze as he looked up at her, eyes puffy and red, tears staining his cheeks.
"Your clone." Dr. Senju spoke with a dispassionate voice.
They all stiffened at the sound of her voice. The same voice that had haunted them thoughout their childhoods, the very voice that had dictated their destiny since they had first been recruited.
"The secrecy of the SPARTAN program could not be jeopardized." She told them. "But the disappearance of so many recruits for the program would have created some... difficult questions."
She glanced back at the sleeping clone. "But if the children never vanished, there would be no questions to ask, would there?"
23 clenched his fist so tightly that his knuckles went white and his nails bit into his palms until blood seeped under the nails.
"The clone lives a... life... in your place. The life that was originally meant for you." Dr. Senju told 23 as she met his eyes. "He will die young, and of seemingly natural causes. They all will."
113 stiffened at this.
"You knew we were coming here?" 87 asked timidly.
Dr. Senju turned her attention on the young pinkette and nodded. "Indeed. We were alerted the moment 23 hacked into his records."
"Then why did you let us come?" 113 asked in a tight voice.
"You needed to learn." The woman replied stoically. "And now you know. There is no place for you in this world. For any of you."
The children all turned their gazes down to the floor, gritting their teeth. 23 squeezed his eyes shut, his body shuddering as he suppressed another sob. 87 tightened her hand on his, a paltry comfort.
"Come back to the facility, Spartans." She ordered them with that same cold, unemotional voice. "It is where you belong. It's home."
Years later, they would find out that they had not been the only Spartan recruits to escape the facility. There had been others - some were allowed, as they had been, to be tested - and a select few others who had actually managed to slip by the all-seeing eye of ONI.
Most of them came back, after realizing that they were not missed, that their parents would not know them, that they had been replaced.
Those that did not comeback, however, could only do one thing...
/:/:/:: ENCRYPTED FILE - CLASSIFIED LEVEL RED/:/::/:/
/:/:/ AUDIO FILE - MISSION: RETRIEVAL OF ESCAPED TRAINEES /::/:/
"Transport to Base:
Retrieval of Spartan trainees 009 and 144 a failure. After making contact with their clones, the remaining two escapees used their firearms to commit suicide."
A/N: The last couple quotes (from Dr. Senju and the Audio File above) were taken almost directly from an episode of Halo Legends: Homecoming. If you would like to see a visual version of this little snippet, you can find the episode on Youtube, just search the underlined portion. But I warn you, it might be very emotional. If you found this chapter tragic... well, the actual episode is far more depressing haha.
Yes, we will see Jaraiya again in future chapters.
And yes, this entire chapter could be considered a 'Flashback'. I tend to do that. This story is not in chronological order, because I'm just crazy like that.
LEAVE A REVIEW DAMMIT
~Lilithia