Chapter Five-
She thanked Harry as he held open the door for him, ever the gentleman. She still had her gun, which was clenched tightly in her right hand. Harry's glasses were grasped in her left.
They walked through a hallway with a long display case. Harry squinted at the tiny objects inside, struggling to make them out.
"Paper cranes," Hunter murmured. Harry gave her a sardonic look. She pointed, tugging at his sleeve. "Look closer," she insisted. He complied, peering at the miniscule origami creations.
There must have been thousands of them, all in different colours. They were so small that you could fit four on your pinky fingernail. "You made these yourself?" he asked.
"Yes. I've always been fascinated by nanotechnology. When I was younger, making tiny paper cranes in my spare time was sort of a way to practice and relate, I suppose." The cranes got smaller and smaller as they progressed down the hall. "Handmade, of course." Her voice was filled with pride. The last few cranes had a magnifying glass suspended over them because they were so small. They reached the end of the corridor. A large metal door barred the way. Hunter pulled a small device out of her pocket, sliding it across a scanner beside the door. There was a beep and a small console slid out of a slit underneath the scanner. Hunter pressed her finger onto the console, and it read her fingerprint. Another device scanned her retina. There was another one that was voice recognition. One after another. Finally, there was a ding and the doors slid open.
"Tight security," Harry remarked.
"Well… I think it's quite reasonable," she responded smugly. Harry didn't understand until he stepped into the room. He struggled to keep from gaping.
Walls and walls of weapons and gadgets. Sleek grenades, shiny knives and elegant pistols. Long, slender communicators, complicated looking computers. "Those," Hunter explained, gesturing to a pair of goggles mounted on the wall, "have been upgraded." She grinned, pulling out a small case. "Night-vision contact lenses." She threw it at Harry, who caught it deftly between two fingers. Valentine Enterprise was emblazoned on the back. "Obviously, I didn't produce all of this. I'm mostly just the designer." She continued walking. "Though I must add, I spent a good few years of my life pulling all-nighters."
Harry took another moment to marvel, itching to get his hands on one of those fancy looking detonators. "Those are the rocket-stiletto prototypes I was using the other day," Hunter said, pointing at a pair of high heels. Harry noticed that all the technology displayed seemed to be organized into a specific group, assembled on one wall each. This proved correct when, to Harry's distaste, he saw a familiar pair of prosthetic legs displayed in a glass case. They shone brightly, catching the light. The razor sharp ends glinted threateningly.
"Now, there's a good story," Hunter said, gesturing towards the case. "That's Gazelle's spare pair."
"Your design." Hunter nodded. He stepped forward, taking a closer look at the surrounding technology, looking for the small chip. There it was, in the far right corner. The SIM card that turned everyone into a psycho killer. Hunter followed his gaze.
"I didn't design those," she whispered softly.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I didn't design those. I never would have. Valentine tried to make me, but I refused. What he wanted with them was so sickening. I couldn't possibly agree to it. All those innocent people…"
"But I see it was okay to kill all those government officials and design the rest of the system," Harry responded dryly.
"First of all, after he explained. Valentine was a genius. A mad, and extremely questionable genius, but a genius all the same." There was a beep. "And second of all, what do you mean about the government officials?"
"You organized a solo attack a few days ago, or have you forgotten?" Harry asked, a cold feeling settling in his stomach at her expression of complete confusion.
"I didn't do that," she insisted.
"There's footage." Hunter hesitated, thinking. Finally, she shook her head.
"I honestly have no idea what you're on about."
"You killed eight people."
"That's ridiculous," she protested, face paling. "I've never killed anybody directly before." There was another beep. Harry pinpointed the sound coming from the far left wall, where a large flat-screen TV was mounted. The screen read 99%. Hunter shook her head again. "Maybe we'll get some answers from this," she said.
"From what?"
"I'm surprised you still haven't asked what I have to do with Valentine Enterprises." Hunter beckoned for Harry to follow her.
"I figured you'd answer in due time."
"You figured correct. Like I said. Valentine was a genius."
"How so?" Hunter looked him straight on.
"Harry, do you honestly think that he shot you with a dart by accident?" Harry let her words sink in. He pressed his lips together before shaking his head. "Valentine knew that yes, global warming and humans being a virus was a problem and such, but that was more like… his decoy problem."
"I don't quite understand." There was a final beep, and the screen read 100%.
"Valentine left a message for me to deliver to you. It was heavily encrypted, and only I have the code. It took a while to decode, which is why I didn't show it to you earlier." She exhaled. "He promised that all your questions would be answered. So… here goes nothing." The lights flicked off suddenly, plunging the room into total darkness, and Hunter let out a little shriek. Harry prepared himself for an unseen enemy erupting from the walls, but nothing came.
There was silence.
"Sorry, I'm a bit afraid of the dark," she muttered awkwardly a few moments later. Harry bit back a chuckle.
"Fancy that. The hunter is afraid of the dark." He felt a sharp pain in his side where Hunter elbowed him. She was breathing heavily, almost to the point of hyperventilation. Harry realized how much she was actually freaking out. "Breathe through your nose and out through your mouth," he advised quietly. Several seconds later, her breathing calmed.
"Thanks," she muttered. "Anyways." The screen clicked on, and Hunter visibly relaxed. Harry resisted the urge to pat her shoulder. "Here we go, then…" Harry returned his attention to the screen, as the camera lense focused on a familiar man sitting on a leather sofa. He wore a silver ensemble this time, a hat perched sideways on his head.
It was Valentine.
The paper crane thing is actually one of my real hobbies- I did, in fact, hand-make a paper crane so small you basically had to use a magnifying glass to see it clearly. :D
Hope you enjoyed the chapter (more of a filler chapter, really... so sorry if it was a bit boring). Feel free to leave a comment, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
Next chapter: Valentine swears a lot, explains what the hell is going on, and swears some more. Also, Harry realizes he has to return to HQ and recruit the help of a certain someone... a certain someone who happens to think he's dead. XD
Until next time. AND THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY WHO REVIEWED, FOLLOWED, AND FAVED!
-happynomnom
