"The following information is classified, scanning for identification"
Sasuke watched as the little orb that Sarutobi had given Itachi whirred to life and began emitting rays of light, covering the surrounding area in a soft yellow light. The beams of light ran themselves over him and his two other companions.
"Identification process completed. Welcome Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. You have been authorized to view this information. Please select desired information."
"Mission details"
"Thank-you! Uploading information now"
The small orb began to glow brighter and a holographic image of Sarutobi's head popped out of the machine. Sasuke smirked at the sight of Naruto narrowing his eyes at the translucent image of light.
"By now you should have made it out of the city. The following message was the last bit of information that we received from the outlander bunker. It is the only information we have on the potential situation at the compound. Watch carefully."
Sarutobi's pre-recorded voice and image popped back into the machine and the animatronic voice bleeped out of the little device yet again.
"Now commencing video and audio clip, once played, it will only be able to be played one more time before deletion. Thank-you!"
The three males watched another head pop out of the device. It was impossible to determine the gender of the person, since they had a full-face helmet covering their head, but from the sound of the person's voice, it seemed to be of a feminine quality. Sasuke eyebrows knitted together as the garbled speech began.
"This is bunker 7, requesting aid from Elysium. We have had a series of strange occurrences that have been occurring in the last few hours. An Oni attack had not been confirmed, nor detected. We need-"
The female voice was cut out by a loud crash, distorting the sound from the small speakers. The three males winced as the noise reverberated through their heads. Screaming could be heard from the audio and suddenly the disembodied head began speaking again, this time faster, and with a lot more "choice" words.
"SHIT!! IF ANYONE CAN HEAR THIS, WE ARE IN DIRE NEED OF ASSISTANCE, ANY-"
The voice was cut out again by the crackle of gunfire and the holographic head disappeared yet again. The same voice could be heard off-screen screaming at someone else.
"What the HELL!! Get away! Who or What the FUCK are you!!!I'm warning you, get away from me!!"
More gunfire echoed out of the device, louder now, and it shivered across the table from the loud noises. The teammates glanced at each other and were about to begin discussing the clip, when the head popped back into the screen. The female's helmet had blood smeared over it and a dent could be seen in the side.
"If there is anyone out there, Bunker 7 needs assistance immediately! Oh god, please someone come help us. We-"
The pleading speech was cut out as a final scream resonated out of the device and the screen went black. Sasuke gazed at the device, hoping that the head would pop back on screen and tell them that there was nothing to be afraid of, they had saved the day, but nothing more came. He noted that Naruto was strangely quiet and had no idiotic comment to make on the file. He quickly filtered through the possibilities that had befallen Bunker 7. The speaker had said that there had been no Oni attacks detected, and the person had also seemed confused went confronted by the unknown enemy. That might not rule out Onis, but perhaps there was something else happening. He turned his gaze towards his brother, who seemed to be mulling over the possibilities as well.
"Nii-san, I don't think this is such a good idea. It seemed something, I don't know what, but something has happened to them and it did not seem like it was anything we have ever dealt with before…"
Itachi made no move to acknowledge his younger brother's words. His eyebrows creased together in concentration. It was at these times that Sasuke saw the stress on Itachi's face that seemed to make him appear much older, and much more stressed, than some one of the age of twenty-two. Ever since the two brothers had been left to fend for themselves, Itachi had been the constant pillar of strength and stability. It was his ability to always think two steps ahead of everyone and everything else that had made them survive so long, and Sasuke was guessing Itachi was using that skill right now to assess their situation.
"The mission was given to us, and it is our duty to complete it. If there were any survivors, it is our duty to find them and escort them back to Elysium." Itachi said in a monotone voice. Sasuke could tell that the video had peeked Itachi's interest and he could imagine the gears in his mind clicking into life and formulating a plan.
"We shall continue forward until we reach Bunker 7. I want all of us to exercise extreme caution from now on. If you see anything unusual, do not hesitate to vocalize it, no matter how insignificant it seems. Sasuke, be prepared to activate your Sharingan at any given moment. Naruto, likewise with your Kyuubi. We were given these curses; we might as well use them."
The two boys nodded. Sasuke could feel the unpleasant feeling of dread creeping up his spine as they pressed forward. Although the lands outside of Elysium were often quiet and deserted, the recent development made them seem more sinister. Every shadow seemed to be the on-coming unknown enemy and he observed that Naruto twitched at every unusual sound.
We're freaking ourselves out over nothing…
I hope…
The trio made their way cautiously towards the location of the bunker, which was situated a fair distance from Elysium, and soon the night began to descend around them. Sasuke shivered as the temperature dropped significantly and glanced at his brother, who showed no signs of stopping.
"Nii-san, it's starting to get dark and the temperature is dropping, I think it would be a good idea to stop for the-"Sasuke began to utter out.
Itachi's hand immediately made its way to Sasuke's mouth to cover it. His eyes widened in surprise and annoyance, but he quickly realized that Itachi had sensed something. His hand immediately flew to his pistol and his eyes flashed crimson to match his brother's. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Naruto had clued in as well (what a surprise…) and saw the scars on his face begin to thicken and darken while the blue leaked from his irises to be replaced by another shade of red. Sasuke concentrated on his surroundings and tried to pick out what Itachi had sensed before. He flitted from left to right, but still, he could not sense any life form other than themselves. He risked a look at Itachi, who seemed to be listening for something, rather than looking for something. What seemed like hours passed before Itachi spoke, his eyes melting back into jet and his shoulders relaxing slightly.
"False alarm, I thought I heard something. We will set up camp for the night."
Itachi turned and walked into a nearby building to search out a secure campsite for the night. Sasuke sighed as he watched his brother's back disappear into the building and Sasuke shook off the adrenaline that was coursing its way through his veins. As he turned to follow his brother, he felt Naruto's hand on his shoulder. He turned to face the blond, whose features had returned to normal, and cocked his eyebrow.
"I know this might sound weird, but I heard something too-" Sasuke opened his mouth to tell Naruto to be quiet, but the blond continued forward. "-and don't tell me to shut-up, because I know what I heard, it was a strange clicking noise, and it stopped once our attention was focused. Itachi knows too I bet, but he isn't telling us, probably because he thinks it's better if we weren't nervous."
Sasuke, too tired to argue, agreed with a mumble and began to walk into the building Itachi had wandered into. He found Itachi easily enough, after walking through various hallways and secret passages. Without looking up, Itachi addressed Sasuke
"I'll take first watch tonight, and go find Naruto, he's probably lost already."
Sasuke sighed.
"Nii-san!Nii-san! I found some food today! Look!" Sasuke squeaked excitedly.
"Found you say? Or 'borrowed' as you like to put it?" Itachi said calmly, an edge of humour in his voice.
Sasuke huffed at his older brother's insinuation. "NO! A nice lady gave it to me; she had a pretty dress on and said if I was as cute as I was hungry, she should buy me some food." Sasuke again shoved the small food stuff in his brother's face with much zeal.
"Well, that was a very kind thing she did, go enjoy it, I'm not hungry right now Sasuke" Itachi said as he patted Sasuke on the head.
"But nii-san, you're never hungry!! How about you have what I can't eat?"
"Alright then."
Sasuke smiled and sat down and began to stuff his mouth with food. He couldn't believe how good it tasted!! And she had thrown in an apple too!!This was better than any food he had every 'borrowed' from the stall vendors. He turned to share the good news with Itachi, but found no one. His eyes widened and he stood up and clenched his small hand around his bag of food.
"Nii-san!!!"
He stepped forward and felt his foot hit a puddle of water. He puzzled at the sensation; there wasn't any water around here. He gazed down to see a pool of blood staining his torn shoes. His eyes widened and he felt fear begin to well up inside him.
"NII-SAN!!!" he screamed, suddenly feeling very alone and very scared. He began to run, the surrounding landscapes twisting into a sickening mutation of its former self. He felt bile rising in his throat as the streets turned crimson.
"NII-SAAA-
Sasuke woke with a start as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He immediately reached for his concealed knife and unsheathed it all in one movement. The body attached to the hand jumped back ward and Sasuke's vision began to clear, revealing a very white Naruto with an inch of hair missing off the front of his head.
"Holy crap, that must have been one fucked up dream you were having! I'll let Itachi wake you up next time so he can get a free haircut too." Naruto's face began to fill with colour once again, the threat of getting his head sliced off currently suspended. Sasuke blinked a few times and sheathed his knife, smirking all the while.
"Just checking your reflexes, dobe"
Naruto stuck out his tongue in return. Sasuke decide to ignore him and turned his gaze on his brother, who had been sitting, observing their idiosyncrasies. A shiver ran through Sasuke, as his dream flashed through his mind and involuntary shudder coursed up his spine. He then realized that he hadn't been awoken to take watch, since he saw light filtering through the door and both his teammates were awake. He raised a questioning eyebrow at his sibling. Itachi mirrored his expression in return. Sasuke knew it was useless to argue and began to pack his things.
"We'll soon be at the location of bunker 7. I want everyone to exercise extreme caution. Understood?"
Sasuke and Naruto both nodded and Sasuke saw Naruto gulp in fearful anticipation. The teammates padded down the deserted and destroyed streets silently, trying to arouse as little attention as possible to whatever was out there. Sasuke noted that there were no obvious signs of any destruction in their current position, unusual since the audio on the tape made it seem like there was a mass explosion. They continued farther down the stretches of street, occasionally stopping to assess their position relative to bunker 7. At the last check, they were only a few streets away from their target, and Sasuke began to feel his nerves acting up as they dear nearer, sensing something amiss. He glanced at his other teammates, who seemed unaffected by his feeling. He shook it off but decided to risk his Sharingan just to check the area. His eyes flickered into crimson and he immediately stopped in his tracks. Itachi and Naruto turned with questioning looks written across their faces. Sasuke took a slow intake of breath and voiced his fears:
"So, we're surrounded …"
Ah crap
A/N: Sorry for leaving you guys with a cliffie, but panic not, I assure you the next couple chapters will be kick-ass. Well, at least I hope. I'll be on vacation for a week and a half, so don't expect any updates until then. Rest assured though, I will be working on Genesis during that time. I've already had some pretty awesome ideas. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it and remember:
…Review…
Whoa, what was that? Must have been the wind…
but seriously, it helps, makes me feel like I'm doing an okay job.
p.s-OMG *fangirlsqueal*. Watchmen looks so good!! Can't wait to see it, and Rorschach, because he's the most bad-ass of all bad-asses.