The Shattered Blade
Chapter VII: Return (Part 1)
Three Months Pass…
(BGM: Wild Arms Complete – Castle of Flames (Prologue 1))
DOATEC Compound: Germany (Night – 1:00)
A shadow dashed across the snow covered grounds. The black blur darting from tree to tree, evading the flashlights of the guards, along with the high powered cameras. A small tuft of white lifted from the ground as a light shined upon where the shadowed figure once stood. The yawning guard at the other end of the small beam, dismissed it as the wind, which had oddly enough began picking up slightly.
The unsuspecting guard turned around to fall back upon his route…when he felt an unimaginable pressure suddenly build within his head. He dropped to the ground silently, unconscious.
This one has family…he knows not what lies within these walls, his death is unnecessary.
The figure, still cloaked in shadow, deftly lifted the guard's body and swiftly broke the man's arm, cradling it with the man's free arm.
Sorry, but this will help. It will look like you got taken down in a fight, rather than simply dropped…who knows, you might get a pay raise for it.
Swiping the guard's key card, the shadow vanished in another tuft of lifting snow…
Inside DOATEC Compound: Germany (Night – 1:20)
The shadowed figure quickly made its way out of the watch room. The few guards there were unconscious, draped over their consoles. Dashing silently down the hallways, the figure recalled how simple it was to stop the recordings of any and all cameras inside and surrounding the building.
Really shouldn't have just put a "Stop" button there…
Swiftly it made its way to the primary power generator. Kneeling, it placed one hand on the humming generator itself and another on the floor. In seconds, a glowing yellow light surrounded the figure's hand. Small bolts of electricity sparked from where he touched both generator and ground, the figure channeling the electricity into the floor.
After a few minutes, the generator had lost too much power, and shut down. Just as expected however, the emergency generators kicked in, casting the entire building in a faint red glow.
Phase one complete…now…to get under this place…
Slipping out of the generator room, the figure once again dashed down a series of winding corridors, this time to a small lift. Unfortunately, this is where it met a snag in its plans.
Backup power doesn't affect elevators apparently…oh well; I'll have to charge the damn thing myself…
A small spark of white leapt from the figure's hand to the console that summoned the lift. A slight rumbling could be heard…as the floor began to lower.
The hell?! Oh…I see…interesting. The lift was built into the floor…while the doors in front of me probably lead to a separate location…
The figure's musings turned out to be accurate as after a few moments, a loud locking sound could be heard as metal bars rose from the ground in a wide radius around him before locking into place. The makeshift cage began to lower itself deeper underground.
Almost there…
DOATEC Compound: Germany – Clone Processing (Night – 1:54)
The lift moved slowly. After what felt like hours, the cloaked figure's ride reached its destination. The iron bars lowered as a wire fence rose before him. He stepped out into a giant room of metal and machine. Bubbling, whirring, humming…all those noises and more assaulted his ears.
Giant glass tubes connected to the walls and ceilings were scattered all around. Within them floated the pale naked bodies of multiple young women. Blondes, brunettes, redheads…even the odd hair colored girl, like green or blue, were present.
This must be where the failures were brought…
A clang behind him.
"You are not familiar. I must say, I'm impressed you made it this far."
The cloaked figure said nothing.
"I'd been following your progress for quite some time. I don't know what it is you seek, but it was foolish of you to come here."
"I am here…only to fulfill a promise."
He turned around, silver eyes glowing brightly under his hood. A pair of black yet silver streaked bangs flowed from the darkness within. Before him stood a woman with short cropped blonde hair.
Yes…definitely the failures…she looks like a blonde Kasumi…
The woman in front of him drew a small blade. "I see…it is a pity then, that you will not be able to succeed."
The figure shook his head. Holding out his right hand a glowing light appeared. The woman's eyebrows rose at this. The light formed into a saber, its blade a beautiful amethyst, the hilt and hand guard a deep midnight blue. The sudden appearance of the weapon surprised the woman…which was more than enough of an opening…
In the blink of an eye, the woman's blade had been severed in two. She leapt away in a panic, only to suddenly feel a foot immerse itself in between her shoulders. Her body flipped forward where the cloaked figure appeared above her, driving five two fingered strikes into seemingly random locations on her torso before landing a palm strike to her left arm which sent her spiraling into one of the glass tubes. The glass held however, as the woman bounced off it, landing on her front. She clambered to her feet and tried to run at the figure, only to collapse to her knees as a spray of blood erupt from her mouth, coating a nearby tube.
"Th-this…h-hurt…in on-ly…two…moves?"
"Your pain will end in a moment."
Blood dribbling down her lip, the woman stared in amazement as the cloaked figure raised its right arm. A silver ring of light appeared around his wrist, which was then followed by what looked like a large transparent red bracer. Around the band and bracer appeared a series of black reflective shards, arranged in a cone shape just around the outside of the bracer.
A slight humming noise, like the sound of immense levels of energy becoming active, echoed through the underground lab.
Four glowing red points appeared, spiraling around the red bracer. The small orbs became lengthened, turning into what looked like fan blades made from hexagons. The blades spun at a slight clip, but began slowing as they arced their way upward. They passed through the cone, creating an arrow tip. Four more blades appeared at the edges, behind the cone, making it seem almost like a funnel. The four slowly rotating blades began glowing at the ends, a small sphere of energy appearing above the figure's hand.
The humming reached a crescendo and then stopped suddenly. In that instant, the blades stopped rotating as well, just barely touching the sphere in the center. As they did so, a brilliant flare of light emerged from the sphere.
The last thing the woman saw…
Was a series of arrow headed streams of energy, almost looking like colored strips of paper rocketing from the sphere and cylinder, impacting everything in their path…every single object the streams touched bursting to fragmented particles…
Everything…
Including herself…
(End Song)
Well…isn't this interesting? I'm sure it's obvious who this is.
About half way through I thought of going back, editing the last chapter and making it the LAST chapter of this fic, and having this be the prologue chapter of a new fic, a sequel of sorts.
I still think it's a good idea…
Lemme know what you guys think. I don't get many reviewers for this, so I guess the first two votes leaning to one side will decide what I do.