Chapter 11: The Security District
"Do not trespass."
With his mask back on, Akikta trekked through the secret hallway that had recently opened. It was dark, but not completely pitch-black like it had been before.
Akikta reached what appeared to be the end of the hall. A ladder leading up to seemingly nowhere was on the wall ahead of him. Instead of turning back around, he decided to climb to the top.
Halfway through climbing, Akikta half expected wherever the ladder led to be collapsed and that he would have to go back anyway.
Just when he thought so, a grinding noise of two stone slabs rubbing against each other abruptly filled his ears.
At the same time, dust from the darkness above started falling onto his face. With a groan, Akikta closed his eyes and looked down.
After rubbing out whatever fell on him, he looked back to find light peering down at him. A new entrance opened up.
Akikta climbed out of the hole and found a few moai statues there to greet him. The hole he climbed out of had been hidden underneath one such statue, which automatically slid back into place after a few seconds.
He surveyed his surroundings, knowing where he was now. The secret pathway took him straight to the Future Utopia Island site.
From there, he memorized the path back to Holdout Zone 7, not needing O.R.C.A's guidance this time.
He found the vault door to Holdout Zone 7 relatively easily; it was on the ground, broken and banged up.
Akikta shuddered slightly, knowing who was responsible for the destruction of property. But that didn't deter him.
He ventured fearlessly into the holdout zone. It was exactly how he last left it, save for the dried-up ink trail.
Akikta wasted no time in moving through the lobby. As he did, a disturbing realization came to mind. "Where are all the bodies?" He said out loud, partially asking O.R.C.A.
Akikta had never thought about it seriously before now, but there should've been remains left behind.
The bones of his friends were well preserved in their separate cryo-pods within a sealed-off room similar to Holdout Zone 7. Even then, there were skeletons at the Alterna Space Center, which wasn't sealed off at all.
Skeletal corpses should've littered the lobby area, but no. Not a single body or bone was in sight. There were only old commonly used items, worn-out furniture, and small bullet holes in various places.
"There are none." O.R.C.A stated.
Akikta raised a brow. "What do you mean there are none?"
Printing noises filled the silent lobby before O.R.C.A answered. "Subject 7, upon killing the remaining human occupants, absorbed their remains into his being. I've documented the process. Nothing Subject 7 absorbs is left behind."
Akikta shivered. If Subject 7 ever caught him, no one would even know. He'd just be... gone.
"All the more reason to keep moving." He said to himself. Subject 7 could be right on top of him at any moment. Freedom was so close, he couldn't afford to fail. Not now.
Akikta's pace quickened. He found himself returning to the long hall where he first encountered Subject 7. He never reached the other side, so he figured the new control hub was behind the door at the end of the hall.
Upon opening the door, Akikta found himself in a well-lit grayish area with multiple corridors and wrecked doors. The place was littered with all types of bullet holes and blast marks, even more so than the lobby area.
Akikta frowned at the sight before him. There was so much devastation. At this point, Father Axe's workshop was the only place in Alterna devoid of any signs of disaster.
He continued through a random hall, wondering where the main control hub terminal would be. Akikta looked around, noting the different rooms as he passed by them.
Some areas looked like infirmaries; others resembled armories. Akikta was never taught how to wield or fire a gun, so he left those weapons alone. He doubted the firearms worked after twelve thousand years anyway.
Minutes worth of walking led him to a much larger pure white room. On the side of the wall were the bold words Security District.
"Orca, what is this place?" Akikta asked, not beating around the bush with his confusion this time.
"You are currently in the security district of Holdout Zone 7. A restricted area, I might add."
"You're telling me the armories back there aren't restricted areas, but this white room is?"
"The security district is where the former occupants conducted their experiments. Only authorized personnel are allowed here."
Akikta crossed his arms in response to O.R.C.A's explanation. "Old habits die hard, I guess." He commented. It seemed that the scientists of Alterna couldn't stay away from some experimentation.
On the bright side, this made Akikta's life much easier. If there was one thing he knew about restricted areas, it's that they were usually restricted for a reason. An important reason.
If the new control hub to Alterna was anywhere, it'd be here.
Akikta took one step forward before a short alarm went off. The sudden noise spooked him, and an automated message played. "Warning, unauthorized personnel detected." A voice not belonging to O.R.C.A stated. "Deploying detainment drones."
Three panels on the floor opened, each pushing out a single black droid. The three droids were all eight feet tall and had blocky torsos. Aside from that and their oval-shaped head with one red beaming eye, they held a humanoid appearance. In one of each of their hands were rusted metal batons.
"Alright bro, what the hell is this?" Akikta said, irritation overtaking him.
"Those are detainment drones. More specifically, the automated security of Holdout Zone 7. Most were destroyed upon Subject 7's rampage, but it appears some are still active and functional."
"No shit! You could've warned me, Orca!"
"Well, I did say this was a restricted area."
Sometimes, Akikta wanted to strangle the navigational AI. But for now, he needed to avoid these large behemoths. "Jeez, I thought the survivors were low on resources. Why'd they go and make robots?"
Akikta took a step back, only for the middle droid to speak. "Do not resist detainment." Its voice was glitchy and sporadic. It stepped forward, only to collapse and shut down on the spot, dropping its large baton with a heavy clank.
Akikta squinted and noticed the machines weren't as functional as they appeared. They were almost as rusty and as worn down as the gray metal batons they wielded. It was just hard to notice, thanks to their dark color. Considering how long they went without proper maintenance, he was surprised they could function at all.
"You wanna dance? Alright then, let's dance!" He shouted, confident that he could beat these machines. Akikta charged to the nearest one. It arched back its arm before horizontally swinging its baton. He slid under the swipe with ease.
The second droid attempted to smash Akikta while he was sliding. Their movements were clunky and slow. So slow that he rolled out of the way before the attack hit, dodging it by a hair. The droid's strike left a small crater in the floor.
"I don't think these are detainment drones..." Akikta wholly believed if he hadn't rolled out of harm's way, he'd be dead by now.
He'd dash over to the first droid that collapsed, going right over to the baton it dropped. Akikta strained to lift the baton, wincing as he struggled. "Dang, this thing is heavier than it looks!" He gasped before gradually raising it.
Once he got it up, it took all his strength to swing it at the nearest droid. The strike bounced off its chassis.
"Do not resist detainment." The droid he struck repeated, only to deliver a quick upper diagonal blow that hit Akikta on the chin. He flew up a little before landing harshly on the white floor.
The shock from the impact caused him to grunt. "Damn!" He groaned and held his chin. It throbbed with pain.
The strike hit hard enough to knock Akikta's mask off, which landed a few feet away from him. Luckily, it didn't break.
He retrieved his mask and quickly backed up. Akikta was not about to punch a droid with his bare hands. Rusted or not, metal was metal. And considering the haymaker he received, these guys were packing a ton.
With no real means to attack them, Akikta took multiple steps backward. The droids reacted to his sudden withdrawal.
"Do not resist detainment." They said in unison, only to trip the moment they started running. Unlike the first droid, they didn't go offline immediately upon hitting the floor. But they did struggle to get up. Their bodies had deteriorated to the point where their legs no longer supported their weight for quick mobility.
"Well, on second thought, I'm not really much of a dancer. B-bye!" Akikta stammered and then b-lined it through the white room.
He could hear the constant faint crashes of the droids tripping behind him grow fainter and fainter. He rubbed his chin some more as he ran. "That's gonna leave a mark." He sighed before placing the mask back over his face.