Okay, here is where the story gets a bit more actiony (and it's a bit long). Hope you like it :3
Red Rose
Chapter 31
Zoe parked Takuya's Mazda about a block away from the facility. Her first driving attempt proved to be an easy task for her, and it had only taken her about ten minutes to arrive. Nana looked over to see that Zoe was gripping the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles were white. However, she could not blame the older girl for being apprehensive, for she too, was dreading the confrontation.
"Okay," Zoe finally said, switching the engine off. "Let's get this done and over with."
Nana nodded wordlessly, exiting through the passenger's side of the vehicle. Zoe closed the driver's side door, then tossed the set of keys over to Nana.
"Make sure you give those to Takuya when you leave," she said apathetically.
"Zoe, you'll be coming back with us," the younger Diclonius said softly.
The blond shook her head, but flashed Nana a quick smirk. "No, I won't be. Make sure you take care of the guys. If they get out of line, hit them over the head with a heavy object. Well....maybe a book. Wouldn't want to give them a concussion."
Nana felt tears burn around her eyes, as she was unable to laugh or even smile from the joke. Zoe sighed, then motioned towards the towering building.
"Let's go."
Both girls made their way over to the entrance, the looming metal doors waiting to be opened. While Nana fought vigorously to keep her tears at bay, Zoe put on an indifferent expression. The last thing she wanted was for Takuya to see how afraid she truly was.
After a brief hesitation, Zoe pulled the blue ribbons off her horns. She then used her two working vectors to open the twin doors, cautiously wandering inside the facility with Nana close behind.
"Zoe! Nana!"
The girls immediately noticed their friends chained to the wall, though the room appeared to be empty otherwise. Takuya looked at Zoe with worry written over his face, as did Tommy for Nana.
"You guys need to get out of here!" Takuya called over to them.
Kouji threw his friend a look as if to say 'Are you fucking crazy?!' Kouichi gave the Dicloniuses a weak smile, still clearly hurt from Kanae's betrayal.
"Yeah, you guys need to go!" Tommy added to Takuya's demand. "Before it's too late!"
"No, we're getting you guys out of here!" With that, Nana hurried over to the four teenagers.
"Nana, wait!" Zoe called out.
Just as Nana heard Zoe's warning, she was thrown across the room by an unseen force.
"Nana!" Tommy shouted.
Zoe rushed over to aid Nana, crouching beside the younger girl. Her emerald eyes scanned through the room, where they stopped on a dim corner.
"I know you're there," she hissed. "Come out and show yourselves."
With a dry chuckle, Director Kakuzawa emerged from the shadows. He was followed by Masaki and Kanae, each of them appearing slightly amused.
"My, Zoe. Long time no see," Kakuzawa said with a thin smirk. "And Number Seven. I haven't seen you in awhile, either. Looks like Kurama really didn't know how to take orders. The fool deserved to be blown into pieces with that monster of a daughter of his."
"Don't talk about Papa like that!" Nana angrily shouted as Zoe helped her up. "You're the one who's a monster!"
Kakuzawa raised an eyebrow. "How ironic for me to be mistaken as a monster by the likes of you. You're a waste of space, and although your 'Papa' helped you out with your limbs, you still fail as a Diclonius. He should've killed you when he had the chance. Either that or I should've done the job myself."
"Looks it's hard for you to find good help nowadays, isn't it?" Zoe asked icily.
"Yes, I suppose it is..." The director made his way over to her captive friends, stopping right in front of Takuya. "So....where should we begin?"
"You got what you wanted," the blond said with venom in her voice. "I showed up so now you can leave my friends alone."
However, Kakuzawa shook his head and made a face as if he were saddened with the situation. "I'm sorry, Zoe. But I'm afraid I just can't do that."
Zoe's emerald orbs narrowed. "What do you mean by that? Of course you can let them go. They have nothing to do with this."
"On the contrary," Masaki gently intervened. "But they have everything to do with this. Do you honestly think that the minute you are put into captivity that they won't try to bust you out?"
"They can't," the blond Diclonius countered. "They know damn well that there's no way they could ever break me out of here. There's too much security and they wouldn't make it past you and Kanae."
"That may be true, but they have also seen too much," Director Kakuzawa told her. "They know too much about the facility and might bring in the authorities. I cannot risk freeing them and putting this research facility into jeopardy."
Zoe continued to glare at her adversaries and took a few steps forward. "They don't know enough to prove anything. I've never told them what goes on around here. They don't know what kind of research is done, and even if they did, there is no way they could prove anything to the authorities. They would be laughed at if they ever reported anything."
"You make a convincing point." Masaki's navy eyes darkened a shade. "But either way, the director is not willing to take that risk. But don't worry, Zoe. If you beg enough, I'll make their deaths quick and painless-"
Before he could finish, he was viciously shoved into a wall. The male Diclonius slid to the floor, but slowly rose back to his feet.
"Hm, not bad. But how about this?" With that, he sent four of his own vectors pummeling into the blond at lightning speed.
Zoe grunted as she was hit in the chest, stomach, jaw, and shoulder. She furiously countered his hits with her own, managing to keeping his vectors at bay long enough to think of a plan.
"Zoe!" Nana ran over to her aid, only to be struck by Kanae.
"Where do you think you're going?" The pink-haired Diclonius taunted.
Nana scowled, wiping a bead of blood off her lip as she steadied herself. She then lunged at the girl, attacking Kanae with her own blows. Kanae managed to dodge the hits, countering Nana's with her own.
"Ugh, I can't watch," Tommy mumbled, though he was unable to look away.
"C'mon!" Kouji shouted. "Kick their asses!"
Takuya pulled at his chains, desperate to free himself. After several seconds of struggling, Kakuzawa snickered.
"Don't waste your energy, boy. It won't do you any good."
"Fuck you," Takuya growled.
Meanwhile, Zoe concentrated on blocking Masaki's hits with her two vectors, trying her best to ignore the fact that he was using twice as many with still six extra hidden ones to his advantage.
Shit, I've gotta do something, Zoe thought to herself. After debating for a second, Zoe decided to cut her protection in half by using one of her vectors to slam into Masaki's stomach at full force. She had intended to slice through the blue-haired man, but at the last second, Masaki had used one of his own vectors to lessen the affect. The blow was enough to temporarily stun him, however. Unfortunately, since Zoe's guard had been weakened, she received a hit to her abdomen. She ignored the pain, immediately sending her vectors at the male Diclonius.
Masaki hissed in pain as one of them sliced across his cheek, sending a river of blood down his face. His slightly amused expression turned sour and he glared at the blond in rage.
"I'm done playing with you," he snarled, sending all ten of his vectors hurtling at her with bullet-like speed.
"Zoe!" Takuya cried out, seeing his girlfriend viciously slammed into one of the metal walls.
The vectors pummeled into the blond Diclonius, beating her into the wall so much that it began to dent. The attack made Zoe think of Mariko momentarily, Chief Kurama's deceased Diclonius daughter. She had beaten Zoe in a similar fashion only a few weeks previous. However, unlike Mariko, Masaki was using his vectors to not only beat Zoe, but to slice into her as well. Blood spurted in every direction, painting its surroundings in crimson splatter.
"Oh, no!" Nana noticed Zoe's dire situation and attempted to make her way over to the older girl.
Before she could take two steps, though, Kanae immediately grabbed her by the shoulders with her vectors. She repeatedly slammed Nana into the floor, picking her up at a rapid rate, only to plow her down onto the metal floor again. Nana cried out in pain, trying to free herself from the hold. Unfortunately, Kanae was attacking her too quickly for her to get a clear shot. Her right prostetic arm fell free and slightly bounced away, out of her reach.
"Oh, I forgot about your prostetics," Kanae said with a chuckle. "Kakuzawa told us that they pop right off."
She cruelly ripped away Nana's other artificial arm, followed by her legs. Nana whimpered, a mix of horror and shame written on her face. She was then dropped to the floor with a thud, and realized that her limbs were too far away for her vectors to reach.
"Nana! Leave her alone!" Tommy shouted at Kanae. "You knew that it was a cheap shot, you bitch!"
Kanae whirled around to face him, furious at the statement. "It's not a competition, you little brat. I can do whatever I please to the girl and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Maybe next I should just rip her in half..."
"You fucking bitch!" Kouichi yelled.
Kanae stiffened slightly, then turned away from his and Tommy's direction. She could feel tears burning around her eyes, threatening to drip down her face in waterfalls.
As Kouichi continued to glare at her, he was snapped back to reality as Takuya called to Zoe.
The blond was still pinned to the wall, too weak to fight back as Masaki continued to pound into her with his vectors. After about ten more seconds of the attack, Masaki sent one final blow to Zoe's temple. The blond crumpled to the ground and laid there facedown, unmoving.
"Zoe!" Takuya repeated, then furiously directed his attention to Masaki. "You fucking prick!"
Masaki slowly turned around and walked over to the brunette. "Excuse me. What was that?"
"I said that you were a fucking prick!" Takuya shouted at him.
"I thought so." With that, he took hold of Takuya's left arm with one of his vectors and sharply bent it.
The brunette cried out as he felt the bone break, sending jolts of pain up and down his arm.
"You bastard!" Kouji growled.
"Oh, shut up," Kakuzawa grumbled before directing his attention to Masaki. "Now that Zoe is unconscious, I will call down Itami and Silverman."
"And this one here is just plain pathetic," Kanae added, motioning to Nana.
The purple-haired Diclonius was feebly trying to somehow crawl over to her artificial limbs. Tears ran down her face as she shamefully attempted to complete the task. With Zoe out cold, she was the last hope. I look so pathetic, though, she miserably thought to herself. Squirming along like a stupid little worm....
Her thoughts were cut short as Kanae delivered a swift kick to her abdomen. Nana squealed in pain, rolling onto her side.
"Stop it!" Takuya shouted.
A moment later, Professor Itami and Professor Silverman hurried into the room with Miki close behind. Itami was wheeling out a gurney while Silverman was holding a full body strait-jacket and metal helmet.
"Put them onto Zoe and lock her up," Kakuzawa commanded, nodding his head in the blond's direction.
Zoe was still unconscious, a small pool of blood beneath her from her wounds. Just as the pair of scientists made their way over to the girl, Masaki stepped forward. Suddenly, Itami's head was cleanly sliced from his body, a geiser of blood spurting from the stump. Silverman screamed, only for her to be viciously torn in half.
While Kakuzawa and Kanae gaped in horror, Miki let out a piercing scream. She attempted to run away from the male Diclonius, only to be hurled into a wall.
"What are you doing?!" Kakuzawa demanded, coming back to reality.
Takuya and the others stared at the bloody spectacle, their stomachs churning. Nana whimpered, too afraid to move.
"I decided that I don't like your future plans," Masaki stated simply.
"What do you mean by that?! You have nothing to do with my plans!" The director barked.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about." Masaki brushed a few strands of hair out of his eyes. "You plan on destroying me the second Zoe is locked up."
Kakuzawa scowled at him. "That's absurd! I wasn't planning on doing anything to you!"
"Oh, but you did plan something," Masaki countered. "You know what I'm capable of, and you don't want me interfering with your mission. You want to start a new race with only Dicloniuses, with you and Zoe as the new Adam and Eve."
"I was planning on no such thing!" Kakuzawa pulled a remote control from his jacket. "And if you continue to harrass me, I'll blow you to pieces!"
Masaki took a step over to the older man. "You feel threatened by me. If you start a new race using yourself, you will only have watered-down half-breeds of Dicloniuses, such as yourself. However, with a full-blooded male like me around, you know that I am capable of producing much stronger offspring. And I don't even need to do it artificially with the whole vector infecting."
"Wait a minute," Kanae murmured. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"Dicloniuses cannot reproduce sexually like a human can," Masaki explained. "The only way they can reproduce is to infect a human male with one of their vectors. The vector goes into the male's brain and infects him that way, though he will remain physically unharmed. The result is Diclonius children."
"But why would you talk about 'doing it naturally?' I thought you just said that Dicloniuses can't do it sexually like a human? Well, other than Zoe," Kanae said.
The male Diclonius chuckled. "I am one of the very rare exceptions. There may or may not be other full-blooded males like me who are capable of such a task. There are hardly any male Dicloniuses in existence to begin with. Zoe and I are something special."
"So you plan on starting a new race with you and Zoe?!" Takuya demanded. "You can't do that!"
"Oh, but I can. And easily for that matter," Masaki pointed out. "I am not in love with Zoe, but I do find her attractive and fascinating. Even if she is not a willing participant, I can easily overpower her and do as I please. And as time goes on, I will wipe out the human existence as you know it."
"You're not ruining my future!" Kakuzawa exclaimed. "And I'll stop you before you have the chance!"
He pressed a red button on the remote just as a small, metal object was hurled across the room. It promptly exploded, causing the room to fill with smoke and embers once the initial billow of flame died down. Kakuzawa stared at Masaki in horror, not sure what had just happened.
"Yeah, you know that little explosive you implanted in me?" Masaki's lip curled into a smirk. "Well, I found it. I dug it out and hid it in my pocket. When you went to detonate it, I hurled the thing across the room, which is why I'm still standing here."
"Why didn't I explode, though?" Kanae asked, her face pale.
"Apparently that remote was only for my explosive," the young man replied. "So aren't you lucky?"
Kakuzawa backed away from Masaki, using his walkie-talkie to call in the guards.
"I need immediate back-up! I need-"
Before he could finish, Masaki savagely ripped the man's arms off. Kakuzawa screamed, falling to the floor in a pool of blood. Crimson geisers shot out of the stumps that used to be where his arms were. He wailed and writhed on the floor helplessly, his clothes quickly stained red.
"Maybe next time you should think before you make someone your prisoner," Masaki mused, making his way over to the mutilated director. "Then again, you won't have to worry about a 'next time', will you?"
Before Kakuzawa could protest, one of Masaki's vectors sliced down through his torso, locking onto his backbone. Kakuzawa choked and gurgled as blood bubbled out around his gaping mouth, his eyes filled with panic.
"Your reign of terror ends here," Masaki said in a low voice. "And mine begins."
With that, he yanked the directors backbone upward so forcefully that it snapped in half, piercing into the man's vital organs. As Kakuzawa laid there, quickly succumbing to his wounds, Masaki began pounding the doors to the room so ferociously that they dented and would not open. The guards who had been called down were now locked out, unable to stop Masaki. Not that they would've been able to anyway, Masaki thought.
Kanae looked at Kakuzawa with horror, her mouth twisted into a grimace. Kakuzawa choked out one last bloody bubble, which popped and splattered over him. He then turned his head to the side and his eyes became vacant and lifeless. Miki was sprawled on the floor, stirring slightly, while Nana was slowly attempting to crawl over to her prostetic limbs again. Takuya, Tommy, Kouji, and Kouichi all waited in anxiety, the pits of their stomachs dropping as Masaki approached them. Zoe was still unconscious, unable to help anyone.
"So, are you going to kill us next?" Takuya spat, gritting his teeth in pain from his broken arm.
"Yes, but I decided to let Kanae do the honors since I've already killed three people," the male Diclonius said.
Kanae's eyes widened, almost bulging out of her head. "Wha-what did you say?"
"You heard me," Masaki replied in a low voice. "I mean, it's only fair that you make the next kill. This whole building will be annihilated eventually, but you should get a chance before I slaughter everyone inside. Here, I'll even pick one for you."
Kouichi's chains were suddenly broken off and he was dragged over to Kanae by Masaki's vectors.
"No!" Takuya shouted.
"Let my brother go!" Kouji added. "I swear to god, I'll kill you if you lay a finger on him!"
Tommy's heart was pounding in his chest. "Kouichi!"
He looked over to see that Nana was still trying to reach her limbs, but she still had awhile to go.
"Okay," Masaki said, nodding to Kanae. "He's all yours."
Kanae and Kouichi stared at each other, frozen in their places. Kanae was trembling, her legs shaking slightly. Kouichi swallowed in fear, hoping that his death would be quick.
"Come on, Kanae. Kill him," the male Diclonius told her.
"No!" The others screamed in protest.
The pink-haired Diclonius did not move as she stared into Kouichi's sapphire eyes. She was unsure of what to do.
Alright, this godforsaken chapter is finally fucking done. Let me know what you think and please proceed to the next one. ^_^