Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything.
Time for chapter eight. Somewhat short, but Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 will make up for that in the long run. This chapter is also kinda padding, once again not really filler, but technically I could combine this and Chapter 9 together if I wanted, but I prefer to not try to cram too much together and since some stuff does happen in this chapter that would be easier to leave on a cliffhanger. Plus, I think it be better for me to write two four scene chapters instead of one eight scene chapter that will throw a lot at you at once. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter Eight.
Chapter Eight: S.E.B.E.C. Building Part 2: Takeda
Kandori, ceasing his laughter, arose from his cushioned seat. A stern-faced man, dressed in a brown business suit emerged from the abyss. The man was seven foot and clean-cut. He cocked a Desert Eagle, aiming it at Reiji. Four S.P.s followed behind him, sprinting, lining up in a row besides Kandori's desk, training their high-powered guns on the remaining Persona-Users before they could react.
"How did children get in here?" The stern man asked, flabbergasted.
"This is a disgrace, Takeda. First, you let Setsuko Sonomura escape and now you let Reiji Kido and these brats waltz in. When did my company become a nursery?" Kandori was grinning an evil smile.
Brown and Ayase kept to the back of the group. "Use everyone else as a shield." They both thought.
"You bastard! I'll wring your neck!" Reiji shouted.
Kandori wagged his finger at the scarred boy. "Tsk! Tsk! Reiji, I'm not sure how the nine of you got passed Byakko, but you won't survive a rain of high-powered rounds."
Maki turned her head. "This is…Kandori?"
Kei spoke up, keeping his broadsword to his hip. "I see you haven't changed a bit Kandori."
"My, my, the young master of the Nanjo Group. Surprise to see you here. Now, I can deal with two nuisance previously forever in my life."
"Your must be pushing your scientists and workers to the limits with the Deva System." Naoya said, poison in his words.
For a moment, Kandori's serious face faltered. "Preposterous!" He spat. "Insolent curs such as you shouldn't know a thing about the Deva System!" Kandori turned his deadly gaze towards Takeda. The tall man broke out in a nervous sweat, greatly frightened.
Kei turned to Masao and Yukino, nodding his head. In response they replied with a nod. Naoya trained his eyes on the weapons of the S.P.s.
"Nanjo's got a plan. I'll knock out the guards on his signal. No need to kill them." Masao kept his ears open for Kei and Nao's signal.
Yukino reached for the Ithaca in her waistband. "When Kei gives the sign, I'll summon Vesta and fire a Frei at Kandori. If that doesn't finish him, I'll blow him away with the sawn-off and end this shit for good."
"You are fully responsible for this, Takeda! You let Setsuko escape without confirming her killed! She leaked the information, because you couldn't kill a messily woman, my whole plan can be compromised!"
"S-s-sir…I'm….terrible sorry." He stammered, trying to find a way to resolve the situation.
Naoya's eye twitched. The S.P.s were looking away to watch Kandori berate Takeda. Kei saw it too.
"Masao! Yukino! NOW!" He ordered.
"Let's do it to it! Ogun! Double Fang!" Masao rose his axe in the air.
"Ha! Vesta! Frei!" Yukino punched the air.
Ogun and Vesta materialized from the velvet mist. Ogun lunged forward striking two flurries of thrusts. The rapid stabs sent the men to their knees, holes tearing through their shirts and Kevlar, barely wounding their actually flesh. Vesta's cupped hands fired the cannonade of energy straight at Kandori.
Kandori returned to his beginning position, staring down the Frei spell without backing down. "You're Persona Users as well. Interesting." He spun two steel balls in his hand, retrieved from his suit's pocket. A scarlet mist was gathering around his feet, rising higher up. He grasped the balls in his palms hard. "PERSONA!" He exclaimed, a burst of red energy blowing away Yukino's attack.
The residual of the burst threw the nine teens back. Kandori's Persona appeared for a few seconds, silhouetted. He was stepping into the abyss. "Takeda, deal with them. I don't care how. Just don't leave a mess. I'm going to the labs, the scientist need to finish the arrangements on the Deva System." Kandori proceeded to sprint farther into the darkness, apparently a light-less downward corridor to the labs and more importantly the Deva System.
Takeda had lowered his weapon to see Kandori summon his Persona. He was off-guard. Reiji took the opportunity, jumping onto the desk and leaping into the dark corridor.
"Shit!" Takeda cursed. "You damn kids!" Takeda raised his weapon, firing.
Naoya rolled to the left, narrowly avoiding being hit. "Go to the hall! There isn't any cover here!"
Takeda fired again. Naoya hopped up, landing on his stomach and sliding into the hall. Takeda continued to fire, Kei returned fire with his rifle, driving Takeda to use Kandori's desk as cover. The others dodged his blind firing, taking the opportunity when he reloaded to take cover in the hall.
"Nao, what should we do? Return fire?" Masao, asked, shotgun in hand.
"Nao-kun, he is human." Maki reasoned. "Do we have to kill him?"
Naoya banged the back of his head on the wall, the MP5 in his lap. "Shit, shit, I didn't think I would need to make a decision like this for somebody other than Kandori."
"Make your decision quick, Todo! He'll wise up and move in soon!" Kei informed, un-strapping his rifle to make his shots more accurate.
"Ah, fuck clips!" Takeda discarded his firearm, jumping from his cover. "I've got something much stronger!" The scarlet mist arose around his feet.
"He has a Persona!" Yukino exclaimed.
"Kei!" Naoya called. "Rush him before he summons! Yukino back him up!"
Kei took up his broadsword, running to the office, Yukino behind. He swiped the sword to the right approaching Takeda. He slammed the broadsword on Takeda's right just as the tall-man yelled, "Behold the power! TITAN!"
Kei felt a slicing pain on his own right. A giant wound, a slash, was bleeding. "What the hell?"
Titan was a naked man, tan and pale skin, ornate with lilac snake tattoos crossing all across the body. He was a brunette, the brown hair styled wildly. The Persona stood above Kei sharing a smug grin with it's master, flexing it's muscular forearms. "Repel Physical, a passive ability of my Persona, Titan! You hit yourself with your own attack!"
"Damn it!" Kei's fell back. Yukino caught him. She aimed the Ithaca. "You son of a bitch!" She sighted his head.
"EARTHLY VORTEX!" Takeda bellowed. Titan punched the carpeted floor. Before Yukino could fire, a storm of boulders shot out of the ground, bombarding her and Kei with their massive density. The boulders were erupting and spinning from beneath their feet, carrying them into the air and throwing them back into the hall.
With a loud thud they landed. Maki and Masao at their side immediately. They both were badly bleeding and bruised.
"Pa-fuckin'-thetic!" Takeda exclaimed.
Maki went to healing. Masao looked at Naoya. "Nao, we have no choice, but either shoot him or use our Personas."
"I know, Mark!" He snapped, furious.
Masaon aimed his shotgun into the office, leaning into the threshold. "I'll only hit his legs."
"EARTHLY VORTEX!"
Titan punched the floor again, sending a spiraling eruption of boulders underneath Masao's feet. He was pelted from all angles and thrown onto Brown and Ayase cowering in the corner. Eriko kept by Naoya's side.
"Naoya, we have to fight back!" She yelled.
Naoya was shaking violently. He cast aside his katana and submachine gun. "No more!" He thought. He continued shaking, standing up. "What are you doing, Naoya?" Eriko asked. Naoya didn't respond. He threw himself through the threshold at Takeda, his hand vibrating in front of his face. The mist was forming, wrapping around his body.
"EARTHLY VORTEX!" Titan hit the ground again.
"YAAAAAAAAAAA!" Naoya yelled out in rage, the velvet mist completing enveloping him. "PERSONA! MAGARULA!" Seimen Kongo appeared, punching the air, unleashing eddies of torrential savage wind rotating at powerfully fast speeds around Naoya and the rest of the office. The boulders firing under Naoya were reduced to dirt. The green wind was ferociously slashing, throwing the objects of the room in a tornado pattern. Takeda hit the wall, Kandori's desk bashing into his stomach. Naoya yelled louder and louder, shrieking at this point.
"PULINPA!" Seimen Kongo screeched, visible sound waves shooting into Takeda. The reverberation of the Personas scream filled the man's ear canals.
"WHAT'S THE MATTER, HUH? CAN'T BE MISTER BIG AND BAD WHEN YOU CAN'T CONCENTRATE TO SUMMON YOUR PERSONA! SPIN KICK!" Seimen Kongo yelled with Naoya, planting the kick in Takeda's face.
"GARULA!" The Persona punched the air, a spiral of strong wind spread and forced Takeda against the wall, leaving an indentation of his figure in the surface.
"HAVEN'T HAD ENOUGH YET?" Seimen Kongo thrust his hand forward, grabbing Takeda by the throat. "I'M GOING TO SQUEEZE THE LIFE OUT OF YOU!" Takeda gasped for air, his breaths being robbed by Seimen Kongo's supreme grip. Naoya was laughing, laughing like a madman, similar to Kandori ten minutes ago; his Persona yelling, a dominant conquering roar.
"FINISH HIM, SEIMEN KONGO! TEAR HIM TO SHREDS! GARUD-"
"Nao-kun stop it!" Maki was yanking his arm. "He's unconscious! We can go after Kandori! You don't have to kill him!"
Naoya stopped laughing, his eyes drooping. Seimen Kongo vanished dropping the out-cold Takeda. "What was I doing?" He asked, dazed and confused. "Was I laughing? I blacked out when Mark was hit."
Maki loosened her grip on his arm. "You mean to tell me you don't remember you wrecked the hell out of this place! You nearly killed him, Naoya!"
Naoya was shocked. "Did I? I must've lost control or something. I don't know."
Eriko walked closer to him, fearsome of Naoya. "Are you okay, brave leader?" She said, unenthusiastically. Newly healed Kei, Yukino and Masao were behind her with Ayase and Brown, the two relieved that the battle was over.
Brown let out an exhaled breath. "Yikes, that was intense. The boss-man got away. There may still be time for the cash. No safe in here. I'll see what I can make due with when we catch up with him."
Ayase's lips were quivering. "Holy crap, Naoya is scary. He totally went ape-shit on that guy!"
"Dude, did a tornado come through here in the minute and a half I was out?" Masao asked rubbing his shoulder, convinced there still was a bruise.
"We can discuss what happened later." Kei said. "Right now, we have to catch up to Kandori and Reiji."
"Kei's right." Yukino agreed.
Kei ran through the darkness, everyone, but Naoya and Maki following behind. "Come on, Nao-kun!"
"I'll be there in a minute, Maki. Go on ahead, I have to get my weapons."
Maki jogged to the long down the corridor. "Don't take long!" She sighed. "Guess she isn't here. Let's deal with Kandori and I'll try to find a way back."
"Yeah." He whispered, walking to the hall, crouching to a knee to pick up his sword and gun. His mind was in turmoil, his brain jumbled with more questions. "What the hell did I just do? What the FUCK happened? Kandori and Takeda, they have Personas. We knocked out the guards. I never wanted to kill. If I never wanted to kill, then how are we going to deal with Kandori? Maki snapped me back to reality before I killed Takeda. I lost control. Why? Am I really me right now? Was back there, that relentless, cruel person, me? GODDAMN IT! I just want to go home and sleep! Forgot any of this ever fuckin' happened! OR better yet, wake up and realize all of this was a fuckin nightmare brought on by Mom's crappy pot-roast. That would make my fucking day, it really would."
Persona: Be Your True Mind
Kei led them down the relatively straight way. "I can tell, Todo, broke down after that. I'll have to lead us from now on. If Todo cannot decide under pressure or has an uncontrollable outburst, we're all going to be dead. This won't matter in the long run, considering all of this is about to end."
Masao bit his lip. "Nao, did all that back there? That's what Eriko told me. Wow, I've never seen or heard Nao explode like that. He's not even passive aggressive. He just doesn't say or do much, but this is different."
Eriko glanced back, unable to see the gray uniforms of Naoya and Maki following. "Why are they taking so long? Is Naoya having a heart-to-heart with her? I should've sounded more concerned, but I was scared. Naoya looked possessed. He was screaming while he was attacking Takeda, laughing as his Persona was choking him. What came over him? It was like when we left the school, the overly aggressiveness, but this was taken to a whole new level."
Yukino tried to refrain from tripping forward, the ammunition bags contents still heaved on her back. "I can't believe I got beat by two arrogant dickhead in business suits. Thankfully, Maki can heal us, but I was worried. Can't believe underlings can wreck three of us this badly. We have to be more cautious especially with Kandori. He blocked my Frei and pushed us all back just by summoning his Persona. He is not going down without a fight."
Naoya soon joined them, struggling to catch up to the distance they put between the office. The darkness appeared endless. Naoya noticed the walls were painted red when his eyes adjusted. The clanking of shoes against metal echoed in the void. They reached a deviation in the path, leading to a hallway. Glass frames and electronic doors lined the walls. Contained within the cell-like rooms were men and women in white lab coats; Kandori's scientist working and tuning machinery and wiring circuitry. The doors were electrically locked. The employees of S.E.B.E.C. were confined, ordered to create and modify the crafty conceptions.
Maki pursed her lips, slowing her step. "This…is…familiar." She hissed.
"Maki, what you talkin' bout'?" Masao asked.
"I'm…not…sure."
"DIE KANDORI!" Reiji shouting accompanied his feet's belabor.
"They're in there!" Kei announced.
Persona: Be Your True Mind
Kandori's mouth widen in a gleeful smile, the biggest he managed that day. He was in the room established for the Deva System: The Dimensional Variable Accelerator System. "What a gorgeous machine?" He thought. His feet tapped on the checker plated walkway, the chains dangling off the rusty guard railings on the rims of the suspended bridge above the bottomless cavern of technology. In a open space a few paces from where he was, a bank of consoles rested. A holographic projector was erected beside it, displaying a overview of Mikage. Braces and tourniquets were extending out of it's illumination point, apparently used as restraints, a victim absent from their cold metal grasps. A elderly man in a white lab coat was eagerly typing away at a keyboard on the console. Dr. Nicolai, the creator of the Deva Technology by threat, or "order", from Kandori himself. The good doctor was preparing the Deva System for initialization. The consoles were wired beneath the bridge to the twenty foot tall steel cylinder resting in the middle of the void of a room the size of a football field. The cylinder technically was two separate metal tubes with a reasonable distance between the two of them in their vertical stance. The parted distance in between was encased in glass, gyros, gears, and other forms of motion generating apparatuses were on the ends of the cylinders. They were all ready rotating at a slow speed. Along the walls, wires and pipes were connected to the cylinders, trailing all the way up and down the lengths of the structure. At the bridge's level, there was a retractable door designed to be opened until the codes were entered or someone or something stepped inside. At that instance, the generators rigged to the machinery would fire up, reading the parameters set by the directory consoles to do what should be done with the contents. The particles could be separated and rearranged or shot to a specific place. The possibilities were endless with the Deva System, with the proper settings and adjustments the Deva System could make any alteration to the terrain, to the person or object within, or create whatever it wanted. The technology was omnipotent, literally godlike. The almighty ability to alter the dimension to those whoever held control over it. Perfect for Takahisa Kandori.
"Dr. Nicolai is the System ready to send me?"
"One moment Mr. Kandori." Dr. Nicolai weakly said in his thick Russian accent.
"Master Kandori," He arrogantly correct. "My dear doctor, I will soon be higher than humanity. You will address me as your Master."
Dr. Nicolai glared at Kandori. "Not if I have anything to say about it, comrade. You and I will pay for our sins. I'll see to it." Nicolai shook the sweat out of his bowl-cut gray hair.
Nicolai hit the last key, the gyros picking up speed. He approached Kandori in the narrower portion of the bridge by the entrance to the machine. "The core and the host are starting up now at the bottommost level. You'll be ready to leave in a matter of moments."
"KANDORI!"
"Ah, I thought you would never make it Reiji." Kandori turned to Reiji who had shoulder-barged his way into the room.
The young boy was showing his canines, preparing his fists, and stomping to Kandori. "You have no idea how long I have waited for the day and opportunity, KANDORI! You will pay for what you and your father have done!"
Kandori raised his hands in the air. "Please, Reiji," He said in a smug manner. "Don't make me laugh more than I've already have. What do you say, you put the fists down and we talk this out like adults."
"FUCK YOU!" Reiji threw an uppercut into the air.
"Oh come on, Reiji, you don't want to kill me in an instant with your Persona."
Reiji stopped, his arm falling back in position.
"You don't even want to shoot me with your assault rifle. You want my blood on your fists, don't you? You want to hear my bones break, my body bruise, my soul suffer, don't you?" Kandori touched the back of his pant leg, hidden behind his appendage was a leathery scabbard, a saber tuck in. Kandori's put both his hand behind his back, his dominant hand grabbing the weapon. "I'll give you a free shot, Reiji. See if you can kill me, I won't move a muscle."
Dr. Nicolai, worried, kept to the guard rail, unaware that the evil man before him was armed. He turned towards Reiji who was grinding his teeth and sweeping his feet on the checker plate. He snarled, like a bull ready to charge the matador, little did he know he was going to miss the red cloth.
"DIE KANDORI!" Reiji charged forward, his gloved fist ready to pound the life out of the president..
Kandori shifted to the left, his shit-eating grin huge. "I'll give you a second scar to the match the first I gave you, you churlish offspring!" Reiji sped right passed Kandori, possessing to much momentum to stop on a dim in the narrow area. Kandori saw Reiji's whipping jacket, swiping out his saber slashing Reiji twice in a perfect "X" through his school blazer and back. The M4 was unaffected, because it was hanging around his shoulder. Kandori planted a sharp kick to Reiji's spine, throwing the youth farther forward to the Deva System. "Enjoy your stay! HAHAHA!"
"ARGH!" Reiji yelled in pain, falling face first into the Deva System room. The retractable door slamming closed, blocking any escape or entrance. Reiji leaped up and kicked at the door futilely, putting all his strength in his kicks and punches. "YOU SON OF A BITCH, KANDORI! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS! YOUR LIFE WILL END BY MY HANDS!".
In seconds, the chamber was brilliantly filled with a white light, the separation of the cylinders was generating a ball of pure, raw concentrated energy, pulsating and expanding in the similar-shape and fashion to the sun. In a series of flashes, bangs, strobes, mechanical clanking, and electrical sparks, the lights died away, the door swung open. The chamber was empty, Reiji no longer inside.
Persona: Be Your True Mind
Sorry, I'm a day or two late, been distracted with Persona 2: Innocent Sin PSP. Plus, I think this was the shortest chapter so far anyway. Once again, reasons for doing that is because if I tried to combine this and the next chapter, it would take a lot longer to put out and the chapter would be really long. Personally, not really regarding this chapter with high standards, the situations were difficult to fully write understandably and the lack of commentary and inner thoughts of others is purposefully, because in the next chapter, the first of the two main plot twists of the game come in to play were everyone will have thoughts. Regarding, Naoya's black out, don't really take it as the generic BEAST WITHIN BREAKS OUT sorta thing because it's nothing like that at all. Either way, I hoped you enjoyed Chapter Eight of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I'll see you next time for Chapter Nine: A Choice.