At this point everything has been set up and now the real stuff is starting. Also there is kind of an explanation of things in this chapter. Reviews are appreciated, by the way.
As a warming, there is death in this chapter too.
The Samurai and the Phoenix.
"Sir, the subjects have been prepared. Shall we start with the testing?"
"Yes, I want to start immediately."
"Of course, sir."
"... Thank you, Dr."
-Linebreak-
-Three weeks after 113's video-
-Nine kilometres from Headquarters-
-Outside a G.E.A.R compound-
Arthur drove the team to a tall building almost adjacent to the test site. Michelle had scouted ahead using the canal that passed through the area. Erzsébet provided them with armour. Both of them were in a building on the opposite side, ready to act on the signal. Both teams were prepared.
The building they chose was extremely strategic. From the top floor, one could see the entire compound and everything that was happening in it.
Every structure in the compound was grey, not one was painted. There was no movement below, everything was quite and still. It was most likely designed to be as bleak and miserable as possible, to quell any idea of escape. There was a huge tower positioned at each corner, with lights on top of the towers. 'Vantage points' Arthur thought. 'Watch towers'.
The whole place was depressing, at least from an outside perspective. From what Michelle, Erzsébet, and Matthew had said about it, the inside wasn't any better. They said the walls were white. That their rooms were small, with a rock hard bed in one corner and a short desk with nothing on it tucked in another corner. That there were showers and toilets in a whole other room at the end of the hallway.
"Are you ready, Arthur?"
"Yes, of course. How about you, Feli?"
"I'm prepared! I'm getting better at taking people with me when I teleport, so hopefully Lovi and I will be more useful in the future~"
"You're already extremely useful. Both of you. I doubt anyone could drive like you. You've helped us get away plenty of times."
"Ahh, thank you~" Feli grinned ear to ear. He turned to leave.
"Feli... can I ask you something?"
"Of course, Arthur! What is it?"
"Do you think... do you think Ludwig is ready?"
Feliciano's smile dissipated. "I don't know. He hasn't said anything or shown anything. I just think that... after everything with Gilbert... I think he's trying to act tough."
"I see. Thank you. Can you tell the others to be ready to leave soon? And please make sure Alfred understands the concept of stealth."
"Will do!" He saluted playfully and left.
Arthur opened the window of the top floor. He prepared a miniscule mirror and positioned it towards the window opposite his. Across the compound, Michelle and Erzsébet were waiting. He heard faint calls from the floor below telling him that they were ready.
He moved the mirror forward. It caught the light and flashed.
Flying down the stairs, Arthur met up with the rest of his team on their way out. The fence reached up to at least twenty feet, twice as high as the fence around the last compound they infiltrated. G.E.A.R was getting paranoid.
There was no way they were getting up and over that fence without making a ton of noise. That's why Feliciano and Lovino had been practicing taking people with them when they teleported. One by one, the team was taken from one side of the fence to the other. They were inside the compound.
The towers were the biggest threat, so naturally that had to be dealt with first. Feliciano and Lovino teleported into the guard room in the tower. When they got up there, they both snuck up on the unsuspecting guard and took them out. They did the same to the towers on the other side of the compound and teleported back to the team.
"Michelle and Erzsébet are taking out any security they can find. Michelle said she dealt with the outside cameras on their end." Feliciano reported.
"Then we better catch up!" Alfred said. He then promptly ran up to a camera and punched it.
"He's going to get us all killed..." Lovino muttered.
Everyone sprung into action, destroying anything that could get in their way with some semblance of stealth. If anyone saw them, they could sound an alarm that would make things much more difficult.
Once all the guards and cameras were taken care of, so to speak, the real plan began. The teams met up, Michelle was soaking wet and Erzsébet held a tazer.
"Are you ready?" Arthur asked them.
"Who do you think we are?" Erzsébet answered.
"Then let's go."
They may have dealt with the guards outside, but security on the inside would be much heavier. The plan involved everyone taking the uniforms of the guards and posing as the men who would take captives to the test rooms. If what Michelle said was true, then there were two Abnormals in the compound, both of which should be in there rooms.
When they were all dressed in the heavy, bulky suits worn by the guards, they entered the building in groups of four. They could surround the Abnormal. The doors were inscribed with the G.E.A.R logo, a gear circled by DNA.
Inside, it was exactly how Erzsébet and Michelle described it. White walls, clean floors. The hallway was silent, if you breathed too loudly it would be heard by everyone. Directly in front of them were the captives' rooms.
Not wanting to stand in one spot lest they seem suspicious, they walked up to the doors. There was a window that you could see into the rooms from. All of them were empty.
"There's no one here... you said they were in their rooms." Arthur hissed.
"They were when I last checked." Michelle hissed back.
"Okay okay, calm down. They might be in the bathrooms or something." Alfred intervened.
Arthur nodded, now they had to search. They split into their groups of four, one going towards the test chambers and the other going to the bathrooms.
Alfred was trying not to panic. This place was so soul crushing, and he was just waiting for someone to pop out and rip his mask off. He was with the team that went for the test chambers. Just seeing the empty hospital style beds surrounded by all sorts of needles and bags made him want to puke.
Then he heard the screams. A piercing shriek of pain rang through the whole building. It came from nearby.
His team started opening door after door, but the only thing they found was more surgical equipment and frightening looking devices. When he finally found a room something was happening in, the door was locked. The screams weren't coming from here, but there was definitely an Abnormal in there. Peeking inside, people in long lab coats stood around a boy with black hair who lied on the hospital bed. The doctors were preparing needles.
Alfred backed up, this was a rescue mission, and he intended to rescue the boy. He rammed into the door, and it was thrown off it's hinges. The doctors stared at him. The boy gasped. Alfred jumped at the nearest doctor, knocking her to the floor and grabbing her needle. None of the other doctors were very good at defense, and less than a minute later he and the boy were surrounded by unconscious bodies. Alfred released the needle and stepped back.
"Who. Who are you?" The boy was frantic. Of course he was, Alfred was dressed like a guard.
"My name is Alfred F. Jones, and I'm here to be your hero! And you are...?" He reached out his hand, but it wasn't taken. Instead, the boy bowed.
"I am Honda Kiku. Or... Kiku Honda to you. I am in your favour."
"Kiku, huh? How do you feel about getting out of here?"
"I would like that very much."
The screaming still persisted. Alfred took Kiku out of the testing chamber and ran towards the next door. Then, it was quiet.
The screaming had stopped.
Either someone had found the source or... Alfred preferred not to think of that option.
But his whole team was in the hall, which meant no one had found the Abnormal. Then, as if nothing had happened, the screaming started again.
Kiku dragged him to a door. Sure enough, it was locked. Just as Arthur's group came running around the corner, Alfred burst open another door. The Abnormal inside was being shocked. Not with a small amount of electricity either, lightning was literally flashing off of their body. The electrical shocks stopped when the door caved in.
Kiku must have hated these doctor people, because he took them all out before Alfred could get to one. Alfred loosened the restraints on the poor Abnormal's arms and legs and lifted him up. He had blond hair that ended just above the shoulders. He wasn't breathing. He didn't have a pulse.
Not wanting to leave his body behind, Alfred flung the Abnormal over his shoulders. He was dead for sure.
"What the bloody hell are you doing! Alfred, are they okay?"
"He's dead, Artie."
"...Oh God..."
"We do have to get out of here, you know."
"I... yes, yes, I know. I just..." Arthur took a deep breath. Feliciano turned away. Francis made a retching sound.
They decided to run for the fence. It would look too strange if eight guards came out carrying one captive and leading the other. Loving grabbed Alfred and the dead Abnormal and teleported to the other side, Feliciano took Kiku and Arthur. They went back like this until everyone was outside the compound.
The really didn't have to rush, none of the guards had come to yet. They all met at the tall building that overlooked the compound. Alfred put the Abnormal down on the couch. He was breathing again.
Erzsébet conjured up some medical supplies and Francis started looking for bruises or scratches to bandage up.
Arthur stood above the Abnormal.
"Alfred?"
"Yeah Artie?"
"You said he was dead."
"He is. He wasn't breathing, he had no pulse."
"Yes well... he's very alive now."
There was a loud gulp of air, and the Abnormal shot upward, nearly hitting Arthur in the head. He looked like a deer in headlights. He looked around, still breathing heavily.
"Who are you... where is this?" He asked.
"My name is Arthur Kirkland. This is a building just outside your compound. We are all like you." Arthur said slowly.
"Like me...? What do you mean 'like me'?"
"We are all Abnormals."
"All of you?"
"Yes."
"I have... never seen so many in one place..."
"My I ask your name?"
"Feliks. Feliks Łukasiewicz. Subject 187. What can you all do?!" Feliks became very animated.
"I can chanel ancient spirit's energy and use it for my own will" "cough magic cough" "Alfred here is super strong, Ludwig over there had impenetrable skin, Lovino and Feliciano here can telephoto, Erzsébet can create things from her skin, Michelle has gills and Francis is empathetic. Oh, and Matthew is invisible."
Feliks' eyes shone. "That's like, really super cool!" He suddenly became very self conscious. "I can only resurrect."
"You can die and come back?" Alfred asked.
"Uhh, yeah."
"That's pretty awesome, bro. You're like a phoenix."
"Hah, yeah..." He liked the title. A phoenix.
"And what about you, love?" Arthur turned to Kiku.
"I am Honda Kiku. Kiku Honda to you. Subject 134. I have enhanced reflexes. I would demonstrate but... I do best with a sword."
"Bro, that's also really cool. We're like a superhero team!"
"Alfred please..."
"Its fine, Francy pants."
Francis gasped, "How dare you!"
Everyone laughed, Michelle laughed the hardest. The ridiculousness of it all. They had just infiltrated one of G.E.A.R's sites and freed two of the inmates, one of which had died. And here they were, playfully insulting each other.
Just like normal kids.
-Linebreak-
"DAMMIT! HOW DID THEY JUST GET AWAY?"
"Sir, please, they were taken."
"BY WHO?" He took a deep breath. "Who has such power as to infiltrate one of the most heavily guarded organizations and take their subjects? THREE TIMES!"
"They call themselves The Resistance, sir."
"I want them found. They will not get away. Not again."