So I finally got a break from... life in general and I wanted to finish this. To all my fellow geeks- thanks for reviewing and I apologize for not having responded in person but I simply have very little time to do so. But now I do so the point is moot. :)
Disclaimer; They don't belong to me... sad right?
This is part 2 of a three part installation and I have entirely too much time on my hands right now!
Full Summary: A strange and troubled scientist creates the ultimate super-weapon, completely by accident. What follows is a race between Japan and America to find his invention before it ends up in the hands of someone with...less scruples than the norm. It ends up in the possession of joint entrepeneurs, the Hitachiin brothers, which isn't really that much better. Nakano, Kyoya and Haruhi, scientists in their employment are forced to analyze these beings whilst battling their morality, their ethics and the fact that it's frustratingly easy to fall for these beings.
Better writing courtesy of writing workshops. Just in case you're like 'dude, so not the same person!' :D
~mari
Androids, some call them. Robots. How simple their minds are, it is not so difficult to create a robotic helper and program it to function. What I have created is life, sentient beings with the ability to think, and feel and live like a human being. Laboratory grown children cloned from the D.N.A of the great geniuses of the 20th century. They are intelligent, athletic, musical, talented- all of them extraordinarily beautiful…
Taken from the journal of Charles Knight
There was so much wrong with what they were doing Nakano was afraid to move too much in case she jarred her conscious back into existence and fell to the torrent of guilt waiting to apprehend her. It was easy enough to agree to it, she mused. 'Yes Mr. Hitachiin, of course I'll examine the specimens. Please don't take away my funding' but when put into practice, she felt like the lowest piece of vermin.
And she was in the lab again because, yeah for some reason it made it easier to ignore the guilt if she was too focused on studying them. It was hard, especially when they were awake, staring at her curiously, scared the girl was getting panicky again, damn.
"Kyoya, any results to those blood samples you took?" She asked, writing feverishly into her notebook. Haninozuka test subject; blonde hair, blue eyes, physically young-
"Not since you asked me five minutes ago, no." Was the dry response. " If you like I could ask the magic lab fairy to procure the results you want."
"Haruhi's out collecting samples." Nakano fell back gratefully on the familiar banter. "I'll just have to make do with you I suppose. What are your most recent observations?"
Kyoya looked up from the blood samples he was studying quietly under a microscope and looked at her, carefully replacing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "That you have not left this lab in two days, you look like death warmed over and the temps are currently running bets on how long it'll be 'till you burn out." He shrugged. "You've got pretty good odds, but we're far too busy for you to collapse now."
"Not that you're worried for me." Nakano smiled wryly, recognizing his concern for what it was.
"Of course not. If you did collapse, I would simply step over your body where it lay and carry on. However I'm sure we'll need your brain at some point so I must insist that you leave now or I will force you bodily from this room."
Nakano sighed. He would too, she knew the man well enough to recognize when he spoke in jest. Which, you know, was never, but you never quite knew with Kyoya. His sense of humor was… warped, to say the least and she'd rather not run the risk.
Besides, he was right. Staying in the lab all day staring at the ethereal creatures befoe them was not healthy on any level.
"I'll be back later tonight. Send for me if anything happens."
"Of course." He said coolly, arching a brow expectantly. He didn't say another word until she'd stood up and gathered her research together. A quick sweep of the lab told her everything was in order. She relly couldn't help the way they lingered on the test subjects.
Nakano winced as the Haninozuka subject blinked at her curiously and tilted its head. She shivered.
"You're right, I need some sleep." She muttered, walking out of the room.
"I usually am." Kyoya said matter-of-factly as he returned to the samples he was examining. Nakano walked out of the lab with careful measured steps as unused limbs readjusted themselves to movement again. It was pretty quiet in the mornings and the cold antiseptic halls led her to her rooms. She typed in the pass code automatically and threw herself down on her bed as soon as the doors shut behind her.
She would sleep. It would be correct to say she wouldn't sleep well. Not when her dreams were imprinted with visions of cornflower blue eyes staring innocently up at her. It was wrong what they were doing and Nakano would be the first to admit it, If only because her overactive conscience was doing a pretty good job of making her life hell for her.
The problem was nobody actually knew that these war claims were genuine, and she was terrified of reaching the conclusion of these experiments to find that they were false anyway and she'd essentially imprisoned four innocent people in her lab for months.
"Computer, display lab visual." She flipped on her back and waited for the holographic image to materialize in front of her face. Kyoya was still at his desk, glasses off and placed neatly to the side while he delicately tweaked the focus to examine the blood cells on the cells.
Except he wasn't looking at the slide at all. Nakano followed his gaze but didn't have to guess what he was staring at. His knuckles were white with restrained tension. Nakano watched him, taking in his profile and could only think that at least she wasn't the only one who found this exercise so inherently wrong.
"Zoom test subject A, forty-five degrees." She spoke the command softly, biting her lip when Haninozuka's small frame filled the screen. She bit her lip as she examined his limp form, hair flopping onto his forehead, a tube running into his mouth and nose feeding him oxygen and whatever nutrients he needed to stay healthy.
Nakano wished from time to time that she wasn't quite so susceptible to blue eyes. They were just so rare and she'd always had a fascination with them, which, worryingly, was translating itself to a fascination with her test subject.
"Fuck." She breathed.
"Command invalid." The computer intoned.
Test subject B, was placed in the observation room for physical examination, looking for all the world like he was hitting on Haruhi. Nakano felt her heart drop another seven feet and had to force herself to objectively note his behavior as unusual for a robotic life-form.
"Take a deep breath." Haruhi pressed a stethoscope to his bare chest. The blond gave her a brilliant smile, evidently hell-bent on charming her and complied easily. She listened for a few moments and jotted down something in her notes. "Thank you."
"Your wish is my command." He said flirting cheerfully, sounding for all the world like he wasn't under intense scrutiny on all sides.
Haruhi was going through the motions with all the quiet patience of a person who knew they could do their job in their sleep.
"You have a heartbeat." She smiled, putting away the stethoscope. "All things considered at least there's that."
"Oh I have much more than that Princess." He smiled roguishly. "If you're considering a full body exam, why don't we take this somewhere more private?" He indicated the mirrored glass windows. Haruhi blinked, slightly off kilter.
"Er well… erm, I'm sure Kyoya is taking care of that. You need rest. Are you experiencing any pain?" She was back to professional Haruhi. The flush on her cheeks stayed stubbornly vibrant though.
"I have a beautiful lady touching me," he said softly. "I'm better than I have been in a very long time."
"That's inappropriate." She admonished.
"I apologize," he said, watching her every move. "I can't seem to stop talking around you, you inspire the words of my soul to spill from my mouth. You're very beautiful."
"And you're very drugged. I'll ask them to cut back on your Morphine intake." She pursed her lips. He merely smiled up at her beatifically.
"Ah, but if I am drugged it is by the sweet sound of your voice, nothing a mere chemical may induce."
"High as a kite." Haruhi muttered. "Should've known you were hallucinating."
The Suoh subject chuckled under his breath. "If I'd known before this is what it would be like, I'd have happily spent half my life completely stoned and the other half dreaming of you."
Haruhi flushed a deep dark red, ducked her head and didn't answer.
Nakano had had enough, snapping the lid back on her pen she slammed the clipboard she was using onto her desk. "They are not supposed to be human." She trembled with frustration, and anger. "I can't do this."
"You haven't got a choice." Kyoya said, eyes hard. "You are a professional and this is just another job."
Nakano laughed harshly, not missing the way his eyes flickered over to test subject C every so often, she was sitting cross-legged in a different observation room. All three rooms were soundproofed and sported a large double-sided mirror all facing the control room. Nakano was grateful she'd had the foresight to keep the room on restricted access.
"Just a job." She muttered. It had never been just that and Kyoya knew that damn well. "Sounds like a justification to me. And a pretty weak one too."
"I live to serve." He drawled. "Considering we have another week to get this done, we can't afford to get too attached anyway."
Nakano pursed her lips. "Right."
And yes, she was still quite pissed off by the fact that she'd been told in no uncertain terms by the twin powers themselves that they did not believe she was working to full ability and that they were giving her another week to finish the project and show some results before they pulled the plug and hired another scientist altogether.
"Computer, enter combat mode. Test subject B, reflexes."
"Entering combat mode." The computer intoned dully and Nakano sat back against her chair and watched.
Haninozuka was in the green observation room, eating. She had discovered his sweet tooth and had discretely indulged herself, even more convinced that someone so unassuming and seemingly innocent could be considered a weapon. Genetically engineered human beings.
God, she hoped she was wrong.
There was a moment where she thought the first blade would make contact and almost terminated the test entirely with an entirely irrational rush of panic. Then in a move almost too quick to follow he suddenly twisted his body, snatching the blade out of midair simultaneously and landing in a martial arts stance.
Nakano blinked, mouth falling open slowly. "First simulation." She commanded after a moment of debate. The man suddenly in the room, clad in black from head to toe was merely a combat aide, a robotic intelligence that possessed the ability to learn and adapt that was standard for most higher forms of combat training.
They were… difficult to beat to say the least. Although it seemed nobody had told that to the blond blinking at the sudden apparition in confusion.
"Hello." He offered with a smile as sweet as the candy he was slowly devouring. The aide made no such attempts at civility and merely attacked. Haninozuka jumped back, dodging the slash of a blade and then to the side as the aide advanced.
The blond boy frowned, obviously disturbed by this. "Hey- what are you doing? Who are you?"
It was a game for a while. A series of quick swipes which Haninozuka would always only just manage to dodge before gracefully moving, lightening-quick to the other end of the room, baiting the aide. It didn't last long,
"Computer, level two, direct contact sparring."
"Level two initiated."
It was all over from the moment the aide landed a roundhouse kick in the boy's ribs. He didn't even flinch, his eyes merely got a little colder. "That wasn't very nice." He said.
It didn't last long after that. Three moves was all it took. He sent an uppercut to the combat aide's jaw that had the computer sending error reports to the control room. He dodged a blow, moved behind the robot, grabbed its neck and twisted.
The useless machinery lost the illusion of humanity and fell to the ground in an ugly crash of metal. Haninozuka stood there, barely breathing, then turned around and stared at the glass.
Straight through the glass, at Nakano. But that was… that was impossible of course.
"Please stop." He said quietly. "I don't wanna fight. Please."
Nakano's breath caught and she hesitated for only a moment grabbed her things, whirling out of the room with Kyoya following close behind.
"So we know subject B at least is more than capable of what they say he is." Kyoya started quietly. "I doubt we need any other tests after that display in there, and I doubt we need to extend this project longer than it already has been."
"Kyoya." Nakano stared straight ahead and taking short brisk steps. "I'm quite aware that you're trying to make me feel better, but don't. I can't ignore this anymore."
Kyoya sighed. "Fine. I'll tell Haruhi to meet us in the lab in half an hour."
"Thank you." Nakano said. "Give everyone else the day off. I don't want anyone within ten meters of the place."
"God forbid that anyone actually be doing work." Kyoya muttered and left.
By the time Kyoya and Haruhi found her in the lab, Nakano had composed herself to something resembling competence and was capable of more than terse, monosyllabic answers. Just barely. She wore her civilian clothes and sat perched on one of the many stools in the room.
She was also staring carefully at the other three people in the room with her. The two blonds looked up, tense and poised to run as soon as the doors admitted Kyoya and Haruhi and both had to restrain themselves from either screaming- the latter- or chewing Nakano out- the former.
"They're in on it too?" The Suoh subject demanded of Nakano. She tilted her head.
"Yes. I told you. This is far bigger than you ever imagined." She said simply.
Kyoya's face flushed with barely restrained anger. "Fukushima." He said dangerously. "What the fuck? You cannot possibly be this stupid."
The Suoh froze and stared. "Ootori- you're an Ootori." He smiled suddenly. "Yes! They know me, they know we're not dangerous." He told Nakano earnestly. "Ask him."
Nakano's face remained impassive, simply because if she started using expression now the next few hours would be hell on her facial muscles.
"Nakano." Haruhi said blinked in fascinated horror as she saw the three subjects out of their pods in the light of day and came to the same conclusion Nakano had. Were it not for the slightly bluish tinge to their skin they could be so, well, human. "You are fucking insane."
"I concur." Kyoya bristled. "How exactly did this make sense when you justified it to yourself?"
"I'm not a murderer. I'm not a jailer. This is not science- it's a fucking farce." She said,. "I can't be a part of it anymore."
"So you say." A voice drawled in amusement. A red-head dressed impeccably strolled into the room, followed closely by his rather distracted twin. "However good scientist, your colleagues are right. Apart from the fact any of those three could kill you with a flick of their wrists- they're ours."
"Ours to jail if we choose."
"Ours to use."
"Which makes you, a thief."
Christ, she fucking hated the telepathy thing.
"We'd never touch a lady!" The Suoh subject exclaimed, scandalized. Nakano smiled and raised her brow in a very obvious 'you see' fashion. The taller blond was… strange. That was putting it nicely. He was just so flippant about, well everything.
"So Mori is… he's dead?" Haninozuka was saying quietly, voice trembling. "We've just been asleep for the past few decades and now everyone's dead?"
Nakano nodded. No words to say to that really.
"And my parents too? My brother?"
"I'm sorry." Nakano bit her lip. If it were possible to feel any lower she was succeeding admirably. The loose hoodie she wore disguised her figure, and the fact that she seemed to have lost two stone somewhere over the course of the last few months and her body was doing a great impression of a skeleton.
He looked at her with tear-filled eyes. "And you want me to be, what? A weapon?"
"Yes." One of the HItachiins- who knew which- said cheerfully. "You're the reason Japan's going to win this war."
"No thank you." The girl spoke for the first time, eyes narrowed as she stared at everyone around her with mistrust. She held Haninozuka's hand. "Why should we trust anything you say?" Her eyes flicked to the side where Kyoya impassively watched the proceedings. Nakano saw one of the twins raise a curious brow.
They didn't miss much.
"You have no family, nowhere to go, nothing to even suggest you were alive before we found you. I think you'll find working with us to be mutually beneficial." A beat. "I don't deny however, that Kaoru and I would take a considerable amount of credit for whatever feats of heroism you do achieve. It'd be great for business."
Hikaru shrugged his slender shoulders and stared under his bangs at the assembled group. One arm slung over his brother's shoulders affecting a casual air which belied how uncomfortable he was. Nakano moved to her desk, rifled through the sheaf of papers there and produced a book bound in black leather.
"This is the journal of Charles Knight." She said, voice flat as she retreated visibly into herself. The hastily muffled gasp only threw her off for a moment and she stared at her employers, determined to turn her head and seek its source. "Kyoya and I have pored over its contents and we still can't find anything to suggest why he'd go to such lengths to do this. It's not a scientific journal, it's more like a diary."
She rubbed the cover absently with her thumb. Then placed the book gently on the table. Kaoru shrugged off his brother's arm and went to pick it up.
"It starts after your birth." She addressed Haninozuka, When did he simply become Haninozuka? Fuck. "As the oldest it details your nursing, your first word, the day you learned to walk." Her throat closed up, and she fought to keep the bile rising in her throat, swallowed and continued. "Alongside that it details your rather unique abilities, oddities in your D.N.A, things that human beings as a rule should not be capable of doing."
Haruhi took over, moving to stand beside her and smoothly allowing Nakano a breath or two to calm herself again. "He made Superman. You know the story, right?"
"Man of Steel, indestructible. I get the general gist." Hikaru drawled.
"Like that, except without the aversion to Kryptonite. In fact as far as I can see they're not susceptible to any form of attack."
"We're trained in all the martial arts, sword fighting, boxing, can handle any weaponry you put in our hands plus more." The white haired girl said quietly. "If we wanted to, we could kill you and be gone before anyone ever raised an alarm. This is exactly why Charles hid us. He knew what would happen if we were found." Her eyes flashed accusingly. "He was right."
"And that brings up a very interesting question." Kyoya said, eyes fixed on Nakano. "Why exactly are they out of their control rooms?"
"Are you questioning your superior, Kyoya?" She asked, just as deadly calm.
"Why yes, I believe I am. Humor me for a moment, regale us inferior beings with the brilliance of your logic."
"I was getting to that. Don't be a bitch Ootori." She said, blinking once to get her bearings again as yet another wave of nausea took her. "This entire experiment was based on the theory that we believed our test subjects to be humanoid- not human."
She was silent for a long time. Haruhi's face drained of all color.
"That isn't possible. No fucking way."
Nakano laughed bitterly. "Cryogenically frozen and perfectly preserved. I didn't even take it into consideration because I thought there was no way any human being could have survived that long, even in deep freeze. Apparently I was wrong."
"Will someone explain to me what you two are on about?" Kaoru glared.
"I'm not so sure myself Mr. Hitachiin." Nakano pursed her lips. "Our intelligence at the end of the last century only spanned to the creation of AI. Artificial, computerized intelligence and the beginnings of the cloning process. It was all machines and wires, not flesh and blood."
"So they're special. We knew that." Hikaru drawled, unimpressed. "I still don't see the cause for concern."
"The cause for concern as you aptly put it, is this." Nakano gritted her teeth. "These people are as much flesh and blood as you or I. No nanobites in their bloodstreams, not hidden wires, no microchips, pure human."
"Which means that Charles Knight, for all that he tried to claim they were clones, lied." Haruhi said simply. "He tested on the undeveloped fetus' of these surrogate mothers without their knowledge to produce, super beings."
"Which means that what we're doing is illegal and unethical on so many levels it makes my head spin."
"Which means that I cannot have any part of this either." Haruhi shook her head in disbelief. "Not if you're going to make me treat human beings like lab rats."
Kyoya stared at his colleagues, face impassive once more.
"I feel gentlemen, that we are at an impasse." He said. "Nakano and Haruhi make an excellent point, however I agree that an end to this war is equally as desirable. So what do we do now?"
The twins exchanged glances. Then shrugged.
"Tea, I think." Said one- it was hard to tell which, the both kept moving around. "And perhaps something to eat."
"Than a meeting, perhaps we can work out some kind of a deal." The other agreed.
Nakano turned her gaze on the three silent figures watching the proceedings with hard, impenetrable expressions. They stood poised, not quite on the attack but tense and ready to run. Redmond, Suoh and Haninozuka. Eyebrows raised. "Well, are you up for it?"
"I thought we were just your test subjects? We have a say in this now?" The girl said, eyes piercing. It cut Nakano to the quick, though she really couldn't blame the other girl.
"Yes." Was all she said.
"Fine."
Haninozuka stared at nothing, tears marred cornflower blue.
They ended up in the control room, sitting at the large oak table and collectively doing their best to ignore the fact that it was strewn with magazines, powder boxes, and somebody had spilled a cup of cheap coffee that had congealed into a sticky mess.
"Quaint." Hikaru, or Kaoru- whichever- had taken out a handkerchief and brushed down their chair before they sat on it, the other twin resting comfortably on their lap. Nakano took the seat just to the left of them and hid her trembling hands under the desk. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Yesterday.
"Now gentlemen, I'm sure you don't want to be here as much as I do, so I'll be brief." She started immediately. "Unless you can find some alternative to… this," she indicated the people around the table with a sweep of her hand, "then regretfully, I shall have to hand in my resignation."
"You really do feel quite strongly about this don't you?" Hikaru- his hair was parted to the left today she noted with no small pleasure at having figured it out- said, simultaneously bemused and curious.
She let the silence be its own answer.
"Admirable. However I'm not quite sure what it is you're proposing to do."
She turned her attention to the three people remaining tactfully silent around the table. She screwed her face up. "Listen," she addressed them all collectively. "I apologize. It was sloppy on my part especially not to realize that you… what you were. Unfortunately Messers Hitachiin were correct earlier when they said that the least of your problems was whether or not you would be set free. Which at this point would almost be worse than if we kept you here, the world outside is vastly different o the world you remember. And much less forgiving."
"At least we'd be free." The girl said, not accusing anymore. Simply contemplative. "Whatever about paperwork. All three of us come from wealthy families, there're sure to be places we can stay until someone shows up to 'claim' us as the case may be."
"That would be the best course of action." Kyoya agreed quietly. "If not for the fact that in the purge your families were among the first to fall."
There was cold silence.
"Break it to us nicely why don't you." Redmond's voice trembled, the words rushing out in a breath as though there were not enough oxygen in her lungs to form them properly.
"There's nothing nice to break." Kyoya said matter-of-factly. "The most powerful families were in opposition to the president, every single one of them either died in mysterious circumstances or were convicted to the mines on fabricated charges. Nobody's left."
"So we have no choice?" Haninozuka looked up, face set. "We have to stay here, and if we leave we'll die like the rest of our family?"
Haruhi winced. "Well when you say it like that…"
"How else can they say it?" Nakano laughed mirthlessly. "It's true, they're bloody prisoners, just like the rest of us."
"Fukushima." Kyoya warned.
"Don't start." She snapped. "I'm at the end of my fucking rope right now Ootori and if you so much as suggest that this situation is any less than it is I will tear your fucking head off. Understood?"
He smiled tersely. "Clear as crystal."
"Good." She heaved a breath. "Sorry. I'm hormonal and I haven't eaten. Can we just get on with this please?"
"By all means." Kaoru smirked. "You said you had an idea?"
"What…" her mind was blank for a moment before the light bulb finally turned back on. She was really hungry. "Oh, yes. Right. You understand that the situation with the war is verging on desperate?" She clarified. They shook their heads in unison.
Scary.
"Okay," she internally cursed her lack of foresight. They'd have to be re-taught everything they thought they knew, at least in regards to history because… shit. "Okay." She said again. "Japan has a president. He had allusions to greatness and decided he didn't have enough power. He achieved this by…by…"
Her vision grew blurry and she swayed in her seat, steadied abruptly by Kyoya grabbing her arm hurriedly. Her stomach lurched and groaned and she had a pounding headache.
"Shit. I just need a sandwich and I'll be fine." She tried to brush it off. Kyoya was having none of it.
"I think you need to go and rest, Fukushima. Now." His voice brooked no arguments. "You haven't had a steady diet since we started this project. Eat something. I don't want to see your face for the next two days."
She looked around the table. "Kyoya, we're in the middle of something." She pursed her lips, frowning in concentration as blood pounded in her ears.
"Yes, we are." He rose a perfectly shaped brow. "You, however, are leaving."
And, well, yeah. Nakano knew when she was beaten. This would not end well if she tried to argue with him.
"Okay." She acquiesced, tired. "Just fill me in if anything happens." She paused, then got up and left silently, the sleeves of her jumper hanging over her hands.
Worried blue eyes followed her progress until she left the room and their owner could only hear the steady clip of her slow gait.
Here the Dolphins walk like men
Here the cyborgs have a plan
Sir Greendown
I need your shining light
Let's leave in an hour
Meet me at the tower
I'm in love
~ Janelle Monae 'Sir Greendown'