welcome back to another chapter of eraser! i hope all of my active readers are enjoying the story so far.
to make up for the delay in the chapter's release i made this one double length :) if you prefer long chapters like this please let me know in the review section so i can change the release forms.
anyways, without further delay i look forward to hearing your opinions! please enjoy.
"I think its best we get you to the testing room today, delaying it any further is pointless.", 6Q remembered this place very well, the crimson painted walls of the entry hall, the display cabinets filled to the brim with golden awards and trophies, the tainted glass windows that illuminated the halls during the day, everything was exactly as she remembered. It wasn't that long ago that she herself walked these very same halls to receive her new orders, to lose her original purpose and be forced into the world with a new job she had never been trained for, it was all new to her. And now, behind her, followed a boy closely, so closely in fact that one could have easily mistaken him for a child seeking its mother in a crowded room, it was clear to everyone that bothered to glace at him that he did, in fact, have a fear of other people.
The thought of being judged never bothered 6Q at all, it was her job to be judged, or at least, it had been until recently, now she was free to find a new purpose there was no need to report to anyone at the end of the day, nobody would call her to make sure her tasks had been completed, there would no longer be sleepless nights in the wild, hiding from unseen beasts. It was all so gray now that she had forgotten the joy she felt in serving her superiors before, it had to be joy, there was no other way to explain it, or at least, she lacked the ability to call it anything else due to an obvious lack of experience in emotional matters.
In a rare moment of remembrance, she looked back at the time when she saw mothers take their children's' hands when crossing streets or dangerous looking cross walks, she imagined what it would be like if she could be a mother herself, to have a purpose beyond written orders and letters, to be tasked biologically with protecting something, but most of all. To have an excuse to stop killing. Unknown emotions flooded her mind, images of smiling children and mothers crying as they witnessed their children come into this world repeated infinitely across her mind.
You're remembering, aren't you?
What the hell!? Who said that?
It's been a while hasn't it, I don't blame you for not remembering me. Seems like the boy woke us up from our slumber. By the by, you may not want to attract too much attention to yourself right now, if you want me to stick around that is. If you let me stay, I'll show you the meaning behind those thoughts of yours.
Who are you…
I know as much about myself as you do, all I know is that you and me have been connected for a very, very long time. I'll speak to you again when its time, for now, forget this ever happened.
Ika knew that 6Q had a naturally aggressive looking gaze, even when she was "happy" she would still have her iconic glare painted on her, but this was something else. It was sudden, almost instantaneous, her neutral glare had turned into something else entirely, it was a look he'd never seen before. It was full of anger of bloodlust, not only had her face changed, everything about her changed, her posture, her movements, the strength of her grip, the speed of her breathing, she resembled a hungry beast better than a woman at this point.
Against his better judgement, Ika grabbed unto the bottom of her cloak and pulled on it to get her attention.
What followed after could only be compared to the apocalypse, the end of life itself, the snuffing of all existence itself. It was a catastrophe not even the most ancients of prophets could have predicted. As soon as he pulled the cloth, 6Q had not turned around, not moved one inch from where she stood, not a single millimeter had been altered to change her direction, all it took was a semi-turn of her head. She moved her head back well enough that only her eye was visible. It was different, it wasn't 6Q's beautiful lavender eyes gazing back at him, these eyes belonged to someone else, 6Q's eye was now completely red, a crimson so deep it was darker than blood under the moonlight, it was menacing, predatory, hostile. Her pupil resembled that of a snake now instead of a human.
"what is it?", her voice was just as different, it was hollow, empty, devoid of any life whatsoever. Without waiting for a response, she turned her head back into place and continued walking.
Somewhere far away, in a cabin secluded by overgrown trees and flowers as far as the eye could see, sat an old man staring at his monitor in horror as the same red text continued to be written in front of him.
ALERT
ALERT
ALERT
SUBJECT ZERO SIGNALS DETECTED
SUBJECT ZERO HAS BEEN CONFIRMED TO BE ACTIVE
RECOMMENDED COURSE OF ACTION: INITIATE PROTOCOL ASSOCIATED WITH ALERT SYSTEM 13, DO YOU WISH TO RELEASE THIS SIGNAL?
YES NO
"impossible…"
"welcome to the testing wing, I'm D27, the one in charge of the ark project, it's a pleasure to meet you Ika, you said you're only 16 correct? Mind me asking when exactly you turned 16?", D27 was a slender looking young man, he looked only be in his early 20's yet the way he handled himself was extremely down to business, very professional. Just like a certain white haired someone he knew.
"the pleasure is all mine" Ika vowed in respect and proceeded with his response, "I turned 16 the day before I met 6Q, so that would make it…a couple of weeks ago?"
A smile formed on D27's face as he heard this, "are you entirely sure that a month has yet to pass? You're still within your initial 3 weeks?", his hands, that had previously been buried in the pockets of his lab coat now laid in front of him, grasping at the boy.
Completely oblivious to the doctor's actions Ika simply answered, "yes I'm rather sure, I should be in perfect health as well, I don't recall eating or drinking anything bad along the way."
"this is excellent! We must begin immediately, but first allow me to take some of your blood?"
"sure, I suppose that wouldn't be a problem", Ika responded, handing the doctor his arm in order for him to proceed. Upon taking hold of Ika's arm, D27 pricked him with a needle and injected the red liquid into a vial, it was clear he was experienced, he didn't miss the vein at all, and it was so quick and painless that Ika hadn't even noticed it happened. "thank you very much, now let's see just what type of surprise you have for me".
6Q who was leaning against the wall in a corner of the room was watching everything unfold like a hawk, her blindfold on her face once again, to conceal where she was looking and to hide the anger in her eyes.
You're worried about the boy aren't you? I must say, if he changed you this much he's ought to be a damn wizard or something.
Stop talking nonsense, he's been under my protection for almost a month, its completely natural for me to worry about his well-being.
Whatever you say princess.
Why are you still here anyway? Didn't you say you would be back when the time was right? From what I could tell, you never left.
I changed my mind; the time is near so I guess I may as well enjoy the whole show instead of just the encore.
You know something don't you, is something bad going to happen to him?
That's entirely up to him, there's nothing we can do to change that.
6Q clenched her fist in anger and whispered to herself as the doctor pricked Ika with a needle fast enough that even with her reflexes, had been nothing but a blur.
"we'll see about that"
D27 placed the vial of Ika's blood in a table and returned to take a seat beside Ika himself, "now we see whether you're compatible with the Omni cells or not. You probably don't know what those are so let me explain while we wait. Omni cells are cells that are only active during the 16th year of life in a human being, not all humans have these cells within them however, the truth is that all human erasers have to have these cells to be an Ark user."
Ika's confusion tainted face told the doctor everything he needed to know, he simply laughed and slapped the boy in the back playfully, "damn, you're really new to the world outside of your little village huh? Don't worry, don't worry, I'll explain further for you. Ark systems are what give Eraser's their strength, I'm sure you've seen 6Q's bracelet already right? That's an Ark system, it acts like a limiter so your power doesn't go out of control once you awaken it. The one she has is a little different however, since she's not entirely human, she has a limiter that doesn't have any Omni cells, it simply reacts to the cells that were implanted into her during her creation, synthetic Omni cells if you will, they're extremely inferior in comparison to genuine Omni cells however, even at their peak, synthetic Omni cells can only reach about 15% of the true potential of genuine Omni cells."
Ika's mouth dropped slightly at the words that come out of the doctor's mouth. "you're telling me that…if I'm compatible, I would be stronger than 6Q?", images of 6Q's feats flooded his mind, all the rocks she had picked up easily, some the size of his own house! What would he even do with this power, would he rip off someone's arm when he tried to give them a handshake? Would he make a girl explode if he hugged her too hard? The thoughts of all the accidental tragedies he could cause caused him to shiver in cold sweat.
"oh, it's almost time, watch.", D27 pointed at the vial of blood that sat atop the table as it began to shake in place. "this aggressive of a reaction? So early? this can't be right", Ika's worst fear became true when he noticed that the doctor was sweating furiously, a look of disbelief in his eyes caused his heart to sink to the ground. Was something wrong with him? Did his blood melt through the table like acid? Was he going to spontaneously combust within 10 seconds? "th-this is amazing! Ika your blood is extremely compatible! Its resonating perfectly with the Omni cells!".
Huh?
Did he hear that right? Everything was ok? Was he going to live? "we must go to the awakening room immediately, Ika, you just might make history today."
Before he knew it, Ika was sitting alone in an empty room with nothing but a giant piece of machinery with a hollowed-out center and himself, he could see 6Q, D27, and some other men and women in lab coats from the observation window above him near the ceiling. The speakers in the room finally came to life and the doctor's voice echoed through the room.
"can you hear me?", Ika simply nodded and gave the doctor a thumbs up. "excellent, now I want you to listen to me closely, the room you're sitting in is reinforced with the hardest metal known to man, so whenever you awaken your power don't worry about…letting loose a bit alright?". Ika simply nodded once again. "good, now I want you to place your arm into the hollowed out section in the machine, don't worry, normally you'd have to fasten it yourself, but due to your condition I've set it to fasten automatically, just make sure you insert your entire arm alright?". Ika give one last thumbs up to the doctor before following his instructions. The inside of the machine was to his surprise, extremely spacious, as he finally got in deep enough so his shoulder was the only thing left to insert, a set of straps inside the machine fastened around his arm like snakes, coiling into his arm tight enough that he felt the his arteries were going to explode.
"don't worry, there's a reason why they're so tight, I will now be commencing the process, please take a deep breath and nod 3 times when you're ready to commence, also, just to be on the safe side, make sure your teeth are as far away from your tongue as possible, I don't want you biting it off okay?". Ika simply nodded as sweat starting to roll down his eyebrow, the doctor certainly wasn't helping the situation any.
Ika looked around the room as his heart began to race faster than ever, his breathing became fast and labored, his vision had started to become blurry, something was certainly wrong.
"professor, the boy is showing signs of rejection, should we slow down the flow in the injection?", asked one of the lab assistance, his face clearly showing worry for the boy down In the testing room. "no, we absolutely cannot slow down the process, the boy showed affinity of over 90% with the Omni cells, something like this should be a side effect most likely."
6Q couldn't believe her eyes, the HUD inside her blindfold showed Ika's vitals skyrocketing past safe parameters, his heart most of all, was close to the point of cardiac arrest. "we have to stop this!, he won't survive the next 2 minutes, stop this now!", 6Q's words echoed through the monitoring room, loud enough that it even reached Ika's ears down in the testing room.
"Pod 115, restrain her.", and with those words, 6Q was surrounded by an electric field generated by her own Pod, "I wouldn't touch the field if I were you, even one finger and you'll be fried immediately. Now sit there and don't get in my way, I've never failed, and I won't start today."
Ika closed his eyes as 6Q's words rang through his ears. A smile forming on his face, the girl was colder than ice, tougher than metal, emotionless like a wooden chair, but when she showed her emotions deep down, she really showed them.
"I can do this. Please proceed.". Ika's voice came through the speakers in the monitoring room, causing D27 to run back to his station. "yes of course, please give me a moment to input the codes.", spoke D27 into a microphone by his computer monitor. His hands typing away extremely fast as the grin in his face became bigger with each number he typed.
"Don't do this to him! There has to be another way god damnit! LEAVE HIM ALONE!", 6Q began furiously punching the floor, creating small craters wherever her fists came into contact with the solid tiles in the floor. Her frustration and anger rising to levels that were causing her insides to overheat, flooding her HUD with warning signs.
"what are you talking about girl, aren't you the one who brought him to us? If there's anyone to blame here it's yourself, you wanted to impress us so badly to get your old position back that you completely neglected the boy's feelings, didn't you?
Soon.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! I TAKE IT BACK!", 6Q's voice, for the first time, had genuine pain and fear In it, causing the other Scientists to turn around in complete awe. "h-hey, now that I think about it…what class is she exactly.", asked one of the scientists as his glasses fell from his face, shattering as they came into contact with the floor.
"I'll answer your questions when the matter at hand is resolved! Now pay attention!", yelled D27 as his temper was almost at its peak. Everything was going awry, nothing was working out the way it was supposed to, for the first time ever, he felt truly challenged, truly lost to grasp at what was going on in front of him. The young genius, for the first time in his long life, was speechless at what he was seeing.
The metal machine fell into Ika's hand, causing him to howl in pain. The machine had compressed his hand into a space so small it felt like his whole arm had been flattened to be paper-thin.
"You can do this damn it!", Ika yelled to himself in between gritted teeth.
A voice emanating from the machine caused him to break from his painful trauma.
Commencing biological uplink… confirmed
Injection of Omni cells on patient on pending…. Completed
Checking Rejection percentage… 20%...10%... no rejection signs detected
Ark system transplant commencing.
The machine made a sound that could almost be compared to roaring as it clamped down into Ika's arm, causing blood to spray all over the floor around him, his body convulsed as the pain ran through all of him in a straight shot, finally arriving at his legs, causing them to give out.
Ark system transplant complete.
Releasing subject.
And with that. It was over, the machine released Ika's arm which was drenched in blood, he could see his own blood trickling from the hollow out space where his arm had just been located until a few minutes ago. The problem was that, there was just too much blood, there was no way something like that could have been caused by an injection alone, yet his arm was perfectly fine, apart from being covered in his own life force there was no other visible damage, to his own surprise it actually felt rather better than expected.
final step reached.
Shutting down systems.
"you did well boy, now there's just one last thing you have to do. Call it.", the doctors joy filled voice rang throughout the room, giving Ika a sense of relief.
Wait…what? Call what exactly? How? I don't have a phone.
"what do you mean doctor, call who? How exactly? I don't own a phone or anything, plus there's nothing here for me to use as a communication device.", Ika chuckled to himself worriedly. Just what the hell did the doctor mean?
"your companion of course, your weapon, your helper. Your very own Anima. Simply close your eyes and focus all of your will on the bracelet", answered the professor with joy and relief in his own voice.
"oh, well, alright then.", Ika closed his eyes as instructed and focused all of himself into the bracelet, causing It to light up intensely, causing pure black sparks to come out of it. "doctor look! I think it's working!" a smile formed on Ika's face causing him to jump around in joy, tears almost forming in his eyes. To him this had been the first time he didn't fail someone's expectations, he genuinely did good.
"doctor look! I think it's working!", the joy of the young boy downstairs was contagious, causing everyone in the monitoring room to jump in joy, throwing clipboards and graph sheets into the ceiling. Everything was going well, everything had worked out perfectly, nothing could possibly go wrong now, he was finally okay.
Run.
6Q's eyes shot open at the fear in the voice inside her head, the clear amount of horror in her voice caused her to freeze in place.
What do you mean? Everything's fine.
To think that boy would be connected to her, impossible! We have to get the hell out of here! If she comes out now we're all dead!
What?...