Doc cackles as Alice punched through the wall to get to him. She couldn't help but think what Ray told him when she saw the fear and concern in her friend's eyes. Shaking her head, she focused all her attention towards her prey, the doctor. She'll have to think about it later. She tried to get him stuck to the wall using her webs but he kept spraying gas around and disappear.
ƧΣDΛƬIVΣ GΛƧ.
'Nothing that can affect us, right?' She gritted her teeth and followed Khai-Ja's senses to run after him.
"Where are you going!? Running away, you freak!?" She shouts, punching through the wall again.
She stopped as she felt dizzy all of a sudden. She went too far, her body is still in shock after hours of tortures. Even with the scarab trying It's best to keep her walking. She wasn't able to figure out where he was and it was frustrating her. Her senses flared and she felt a sharp object stabbing her neck, the needle immediately broke at the contact with the armor, hot liquid splashed everywhere. She gritted her teeth and swung her fist behind her, finally colliding with Doc's face. He exclaims in shock as he was flung across the cafeteria.
She grabbed her head and groaned loudly, everything was blurring and spinning.
"D- don't think you can ran forever, I'm gonna fucking... kill you, you bit-"
"Oh, are you sure? You just consumed gallons of my poisonous gas. By the looks of it, you don't feel pain, rather, you feel weaker. It won't take long for you to be consumed over poison. While at it, I will kill that boy. I'll hear their satisfying screams for eternity!"
"It's still enough to take you down." She pants, looking around. She shook her head as everything was getting blurry.
"That's the problem, Ali. Before you rescued my other experiments, I put flashy little bombs inside the building."
She stopped, her eyes widening. "You're bluffing."
"Am I? You and your friend have exactly five minutes before this place goes boom. With all my evidence. Do you really think that I would let you have the final card?"
Alice clenched her fist as picked Doc by his collar, bringing his face to hers.
"Turn it off." She growls.
He laughs, spilling blood out of his mouth. "I don't want to. What's the point of not having you when you can be mine in the afterlife. After all, insects only live once."
She huffs and brings a fist to knock him out and find the bomb to disarm it when she hears steps behind her.
"Steph!"
Alice gasped, quickly turning around. Tommy stood with a pipe in his hands, the sharp end pointed at her. His eyes didn't show any betrayal or pain, only concern.
"Why are you still here?!" Alice yells, "Get out of here, idiot! There's a bomb about to go off!"
"I'm not leaving without you!"
"You're fucking stupid! Get out of here!"
"No!"
Alice cursed under her breath in japanse, turning to Doc. What she didn't expect was a full bomb of gas exploding in her face. It stung her eyes, giving the man a chance of escape.
"Steph!" Tommy cried worryingly.
"Stay where you are!" She shouts, trying to find Doc but her vision was completely blurred. She cursed and tackled Tommy before the man could slice him. Doc screamed and chased after them. Tommy clung to Alice as she climbed through the walls.
"Where are we going?!" She didn't respond, trying to rely on Khai-Ja's holographic map of the building. Through her mask, her eyes stung causing her to almost crash to wall if it wasn't for Tommy helping her. He yelped as they fell to the ground but Alice took their fall.
Tommy hastily sat up and tried to pick her up but Alice didn't move, her breathing was unstable and targeting triangle was glitching uncontrollably. He glanced back to see the doctor stalking towards them with a malicious grin on his face.
"Steph! Steph! Get up, Stephanie!" He shouts. Alice shakily tried to stood up but failed miserably. She heard as Tommy stood up in front of her protectivly.
"D- don't- run, moron-"
"You know I can't, Alice."
Huh?
.
.
.
'Oh. I'm here again.' She thought, looking around the infinite blackness. Alice blinked few times, looking around confused. Where is the weird orb?
"Ha!" A young girl laughed, holding a katana next to her brother's neck, the sharp weapon almost touching his skin.
"Just kidding, I'm not going to kill you." She lifted the weapon away, placing her katana in a wooden sheath while her green-haired brother was giving her the deadliest of glares.
The girl chuckled at his reaction. "Oh, come on, Ge--. It was just a little banter! That's what you get for spending most of your time filtring with hapless, innocent girls than training!"
The shadow figure chuckled at her younger self. Cute.
"Well you can't blame me. They fell in love with me first!" He pointed the thumb at himself, making a charming face. "No way, you look like a Grinch with that green hair!" She said, sticking her tongue out at him playfully.
The boy seemed taken aback by her sudden answer, crossing his arms over his chest. "I do not! Your just jealous that you can't dye your hair like me." He defended, and the girl was surprised by how offended he sounded.
"Why would I dye my hair, I like it the way it is. I don't want to be another lava lamp in the family." She mumbled but her brother heard everything right and gasped offended, bringing his hand to his heart.
"How could you betray me like this? You know what, let's dye your hair too!" Her eyes widened as her brother jumped at her but before she was able to dodge, someone caught his hand and pulled him away.
The girl looked at her older brother pulling the younger brother away before scolding him.
"-- It is time for our bow practice, you don't want to be late." With that he grabbed his sister's hand, leading her to the exit from the room. Taking a last glance at the sad brother, she waved a good bye towards him before the door closed.
The shadow tried to follow them but she couldn't open the door as her hand went through the doorknob as it was a ghost. She flinched at the feeling it gave her but tried still anyway.
"You can't follow them; it's the end of the memory, a forgotten fragment I managed to piece together at least a little." The familiar voice said as everything changed back into the darkness again. This time, the white orb was visible, floating in the dark.
"It's like a puzzle that was once completed but now it's just a pile of random pieces waiting to be put back together again."
She tilted her head.
"I can put you back together."
"But first you have to stop looking at me like that. I am not a parasite, quite the opposite actually."
Alice flinched as something light sat up on her shoulder. Turning her head she saw a small fluffy owl, similiar looking to the American Barn Owl. The little creature stretched It's wings, hitting her lightly in the process. The owl then disappeared from her shoulder, leaving a one single feather on It's place.
"You okay, Alice?" The owl tilted It's head.
'Yeah, It's just... Why I am here again?'
"Hm? I would like to know that too. Usually people communicate with my species during their sleep, but I guess your not asleep, are you?"
'I'm not sure...'
"You are dying."
Alice blinked confused, 'What?'
"Your heartbeat, Alice. It's so weak I can barely hear it."
'Oh? I don't feel dead, actually I don't feel anything.'
Alice senses flared and her body started glitching again, she gasped as her whole arm disappearing and appearing.
"You are dying now. Whatever is happening outside, It's slowly ripping you apart here." The owl outstreched It's wing towards the crouching girl. "I could just leave here to beed out but I made a promise. All the things you came through."
Alice suddenly started to tear up, black goo dripping from her eyes. Memories of all forms of abuse flooding her brain. Some physical, mostly mental, verbal and financial.
"It would be just cruel to let you die such death, especially when you don't even know anything about your past. Taking away that chance of finding out the truth would be just cruel, don't you think?"
"All I'm asking in return is..."
.
.
.
Alice gasped for air, coughing uncontrollably. Both male's turned to her confused, Tommy instantly tried to lift her but as his hands came into contact with the black armor, it burned his skin. A long foreign feeling awoke her, spreading to every corner of her feeble body. It was as if something overtook her, numbing her mind but stanghtening her tired relucant muscles and every sick thought she had, making her move before she was able to stop. Her back curled backwards until the top of her head reached the ground behind her, and her hands started to claw at her throat, trying to make way for whatever was raging inside her. Trying to rip out and release the nasty living substance. Before long she lost every possibility to control herself as her eyes meet the person that caused all if it. The black metal covering her face grew, creating a small beak of a owl. Black liquid stretched from her back, melting into each other in the air until it made two wings out black and golden substance producing by the Scarab, which formed hard feathers, slowly moving over and attaching to each other, making a screeching deafening sound of knifes being sharpened. Dark fluid whirled around her hands and formed a large talons, fingers trembling with anticipation to rip something or someone open. It felt as if someone showed the worst and painfull moments of her life to the blender and mixed them all together. It was a madness, and somehow it felt right, as a relieve. A release of stress and sanity.
Khai-Ja's systems were going crazy, her vision glitching a bit until the targeting triangle landed on the person that caused it all.
Ignoring Tommy's voice, she immediately lunged at the man. Doc's eyes widened. That speed! He barely managed to dodge, taking off his lab jacket before her talons were able to pierce through it, although he felt blood painting his clothes, the wounds weren't too deep to threaten his life.
"Magnificent! Look at you! I knew there was a monster inside you, we just needed a little poison and a ticking bomb to awoke it, aren't you just beatiful!" The doctor's insane laugh echoed through the room as the bird-like monstrosity crouched towards him on all fours like a wild animal. Rey ran, closing the door shut with his ID before her face. A loud bang could be heard as her face slammed onto the steel door's.
Tommy hid behind a table, shaking in fear. Why was he scared, It's his friend, whatever is happening to her, she wouldn't hurt him right?
His pupils shrunk as he heard the snarls and saw a table flying into a wall.
The steel door burst open and the beast was free.
It seemed the girl had fully forgotten about him and the omnic she was trying to find.
Then he remembers the bombs and seeing how the doctor had become her only focus, he realized that there was no one that could now stop the bomb. He looked at the exit and panicked as his only way out from the cafeteria was now blocked by debris.
He can only wait and hope that the police will be able to find him... or his body. Looking around he noticed a huge hole in the wall and stepping through it. The hole lead to another long hallway. Tommy taking a deep sigh began to ran, trying to remember where the other exits were located.
.
.
.
Alice screeched, finally breaking the glass and lunged at the man, slicing her claws at him. He dodged it fast enough to throw another gas bomb into her face. Ray grabbed anything on his path and throw it back to her to distract the girl. He smirked when as he threw an IV at her which frustrated her even more. Few more turns and he will be able to reach his bunker. She coughs like a feral dog as the poison enters her lungs but she ignores the burning sensation and continue following after the man, seeing nothing but red.
Alice crashed against the wall and dropped to the ground, running with those talons is not as easy as it seems. She was furious, angry, pissed and more, but what was even worse was the fact that he enjoyed it. Thinking that this is a game. A game?!
"IT'S MURDERING TIME!!" Her wild roars echoed through the whole building, vibrating the windows.
Ray quickly closed the secure doors of the banker, finally being able to catch his breaths. The doctor was too engaged in being awed by the, what he called "incredibly artistic scenery right before his eyes," disregarding the screams of pain as the girl's body was ripping itself apart to be able to change. He immediately walked towards his computers and turned on every possible camera that wasn't broken or destroyed.
There she is. No human parts visible, ever part of her body was covered by living liquid that was moving around her hands and legs like snakes. Her new form visibly looked like a giant owl with four limbs.
He felt goosebumps grow on his skin as the girl's head rotated 360 around to look at the camera. It was dark, the only thing visible were those yellow pupils staring back at him before the camera was destroyed.
He froze when every camera he had turned off within seconds. How did she do that?!
People always say to hold back. Whenever It's a bully beating you up or a whole class making pranks on you for their own amusement. Don't hit them back, don't insult them back, the teacher will going to fix everything. Fucking bullshit, I want to crack their heads, beat them up us they did, what's wrong with that? If they can do that I can too.
Alice was confused. She didn't know what was real or what was not anymore. What she knew was that she was back in the school and sitting in the same old table. Blinking away blood from her eyes she was back again in the building. What is happening?
"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!" She yelled, her fist colliding with a wall.
Focus. Focus. Find that bug and squish it!
She turned her in random direction, using scarab's barely working scanner and she smiled widely as Khai-Ja found a small closed room, isolated from others.
Rey's eyes widened as he heard something banging at the door. He didn't want to kill her, she was the key to his final work, he needed her alive. But the girl didn't cared about her health anymore as she kept hitting the door even when her fists began to bleed.
"OPEN THAT FUCKING DOOR OR I'M GONNA OPEN IT MYSELF!" Another louder bang appeared, creating a haste.
Doc picked up his gun, aiming at the door. The gun full of sedative bullets, although he wasn't sure if they are going to work.
It wasn't long before the doors bursted open, a golden beak peeked from shadows and the man instantly started firing. Not wasting any more time, Alice charged at the man, pinning him to the wall. Both wings were big enough to cover the only way of escape. Doc was forced to release the gun as she grabbed him by his neck.
Alice released him and tackled Ray to the ground.
"You did this to me!" She screams.
"You made me a monster! A freak! I'll never forgive you-"
"Alice?"
Alice slowly turns around, her eyes wide. How did he call her? She paled noticing Tommy standing next to the destroyed doors.
5 seconds. Her eyes widened and turned to the computer, the screen was showing a countdown.
BOOM.
The bombs around the building exploded, making everything collapse in it's way, including the ceiling of the bunker they were in.
Ray and Alice screamed as the flames captured them. Although Khai-Ja was trying It's best to keep her alive, the poisonous gas that has been released upon the explosion was not making it easy. Because of that, her skin peeled like a butter knife, making her shriek in agony.
Alice had a hard time thinking properly, the poisonous smoke filling her lungs wasn't making that easy and her brain began to stop distinguish what was reall and what was not. But she made a promise, she's going to take Ray down and save everyone. She felt a wave of cold in her body, Khai-Ja was cooling down her armor.
ЯΛPID-ΉΛЯDΣПIПG FIЯΣ-ЯΣƧIƧƬΛПƬ PӨYЦЯΣƬΉΛПΣ. YӨЦ ᄃΛП BЯΣΛƬΉ ПӨЩ, I ЩIᄂᄂ ƬΛKΣ ᄃΛЯΣ ӨF ƬΉΣ ЩӨЦПDƧ.
The fire still on her body, didn't hurt anymore, rather tickled.
Looking around, trying to find her friend, she cursed at the smoke. Her head snapped at the direction of his voice calling her, and immediately ran towards him. She effortlessly dodged the concrete above her. Doc, on the other hand, had trouble doing that. Her eyes widened as the floor collapsed. She stuck to the ceiling and stopped as she heard a cry.
She spotted the Doc falling from a tall height. She looked at him unsure, gritting her teeth and cursing many creative words in Japanse. She saw the fear in his eyes as he was nearing death.
Let him fall. Let him die. He deserves it.
You're not a hero, It's real life. Your life is in danger.
Cursing herself, she dived down and reached a hand out to him. What she didn't expect was to see Tommy falling too. Her stomach dropped at what she was seeing. Tommy was falling.
Oh, what a moment! Now you have to choose! Who will you choose, Alice? Your best friend or a person that had made your life a living nightmare... again?
Or will you save both?
Everything seemed in slow motion. She could see and feel the fear in both male's eyes. She dives faster catching first Doc and then focusing on her hand and arching her middle and ring finger to her palm and aiming at the boy. A black web came out of her wrist, attaching to his neck. Using all her strength she pulled him towards her. Spinning around in the air, another web attached to the ceiling.
But it wasn't enough to slow the fall.
Wrong choice, Alice.
Doc screamed in pain as they collapsed to the ground underneath from the building's collapse. A quiet noise of someting cracking echoed through the ruins, but the girl was too tired to even move. Alice pants and groans as her back cracked to glance at Tommy. He wasn't moving.
Her stomach dropped. No...
She stood over him, shaking him lightly but no response. Alice shook her head, feeling the tears coming out.
"T- Tommy?" She hiccupped.
"Come on, Tommy. Wake up. Don't pull a prank on me, not now. Tommy?"
ΛᄂIᄃΣ.
Her heart dropped and gasped. She immediately forced the armor off, but Khai-Ja only let her mask melt away, revealing her tired eyes. She shook her head, trying to look for any injures but couldn't find any. Her hand froze at his neck, feeling something sticky attached to his neck and her wrist. It was her web.
'What's wrong with him?! Did he hurt himself?! But how, when?!
"TOMMY! WAKE UP, YOU IDIOT! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Her voice cracked, hugging his body to her.
'What are you doing here. You weren't supposed to be here. Why didn't you ran, why didn't you listened?!'
bzt* ΛlIcΣ SMITΉ.
"Everyone is waiting for you at home, at the shelter! I won't leave you behind! You risked yourself for me and I refuse to let you die. I'll even clean up your whole room and toilet for 3 fucking months! Wake up, please, Tommy!" She yells.
All those screams made her unable to notice the piece of sharp metal stuck in her shoulder and back, barely missing the scarab's shell.
Or maybe she just didn't care anymore.
Alice sobbed, clinging to him. "Everytime I'm with you, I tend to forget everything about myself and have fun. When was the last time I had so much fun? I lost everything, please, I don't you to be added to the list... I can't lose you too..."
Her eyes blurred, not giving her a chance what she was saying. She cried harder, blood tears dripping from her face to his body.
Alice continued to sob as Ray shakily stood up and stalked over to the girl. She stopped as she sensed him. Her eyes darkened, armor covering her face again.
"You did it... It's your fault..."
Rey stood behind her with a shard in his hand. His eyes didn't show any anger. In fact, his eyes only stared at them. He knew exactly what she was going through but it didn't affect him at all. Only reminded him of the mad world they are stuck in.
He clutched to the shard and spoke, "I lost someone close to me too, that's why I have been doing this. After years of hard work, I have finally found the solution, but I needed someone strong, someone that can survive the process. But all those kids only screamed in fear. We can bring them back. I can't do it without you. I need her back..."
He threw himself at her. She gritted her teeth, trying to ignore the pain as she gripped his neck, lifting him. He gasped and scratched her hands with the shard but it didn't affect her.
She didn't feel anything as the glass stabbed her skin.
She didn't feel anything as the blood dripped from her hands. In fact, she felt cold.
Her body was numb. Her mind was blank. She couldn't think straight.
Her family... her friends... her home...
Why is this unfair. What she has done wrong to deserve this? Perhaps she really is a freak, a monster as her parents said.
Would it change anything if she would to die today?
"You killed him." She whispered.
He gasps and tries to get away from her but his eyes couldn't wander away from hers. It was those eyes again.
The eyes of a murderer. He shook to the bone in fear. He has never been this intimiated by someone younger than him.
She's a monster!
"P-please! Let go!" He pleaded but it made her only tighten her grip.
"A- Alice-"
"Don't say that name." She spat. She snarls as she would never forget Tommy's smile.
His kidness.
His teasing.
His hugs.
His warmth.
Everything.
Doc's face turned purple as his life began to flash before his eyes and fell limp. Her claws grew longer, and like that she crashed his neck.
She fell to the ground with the dead body next to her. Shakily turning around to another body.
It's over.
PᄂΣΛƧΣ. ΉΣΛЯ MΣ ΛᄂIᄃΣ ƧMIƬΉ.
She turned around immediately towards her friend's body and shakily standing up. Not a single question filled her mind as she lifted the the dead weight, all she could do anymore was just to stare down at his lifeless and ragged face.the web still attached to his neck.
Translator function fully operational. Khai-Ja said, breaking the silence in her mind.
Alice Smith, you have been wounded. I detect foreign bodies stuck in your body. Your shoulder is bleeding and the metal scrap is dangerously close to my main core. There are several burns but have been already healed and don't threaten your life anymore.
You have to-
"Shut up!" She yelled to the scarab.
"Wait- you must have some sort of built-in first aid kit, right?"
Only to maintain organic host.
She put the body and crouched next to him.
"Use it on Tommy. That's an order!"
Negative. Medical resources are reserved for organic host.
"He's my best friend! If he dies, I killed him!"
He is dead. He's neck is broken due to the use of the webbing. The whiplash broke his neck. It is already too late.
A metallic noise filled the air which was soon followed by the rest of the ceiling falling apart. Debris and equipment falling from the other floors like heavy iron clouds, but a whole less soft and fluffy than the real ones. Her wings covered her whole body protectivly as the huge rocks and metal parts crashed into her as the whole building finally collapsed. She could just hope that the kids managed to find the exit and that they were safe.
It was the last thing she saw before the building swallowed her and both bodies. She shut her eyes close as she heard the disturbing noises of snspping and crashing bones and flesh.
Terryfing, isn't it?
Getting buried alive by a collapsing huge building that probably was an abandoned Asylum for very unstable people. Atleast that's what Khai-Ja said. Isn't it just ironic? I fit perfectly here. After all, It's my fucking fault that we are here in the first place, and I mean by we, not just Khai-Ja but also the two corpses buried next to me.
Your probably wondering how the fuck I am still conscious? Well, it seems that scarab's juice is strong enough to keep me alive as conscious in the worst moments of my life.
Just great.
Am I in pain? Yes, a very terrible pain. Not just physical but mental too.
She tried to move but quickly realized that it was impossible.
At least Khai-Ja was still functional and able to keep me company.
Attempting to move human host: attempt failed.
The host is trapped beneath a large piece of debris. Core functions not functioning properly due to the external and iternal damage to the host and the Scarab Khai-Ja. Unable to remove debris without causing more pain and damage.
Khai-Ja felt me shifting around, trying to move even an inch, but the pain immediately made me stop.
Do not move, Alice Smith. It's only causing more damage and pain than there already is.
'Then what are you expecting me to do?' I thought. 2 hours had already passed and still no one was searching through the debris.
She mover her fingers in her left hands a little. It was the only thing she was able to move, even a bit. Although, she couldn't see, she could feel every little change and move around her. Her left hand was still holding Tommy's hand, it was like her own body refused to let him go. Even when the another rock hit her in the head, making his almost go unconscious. But now, she couldn't pull away, her hand was stuck in that position because of the debric and metal holding her in that state, stuck in her flesh. The pain was nothing compared to the fact that she was still holding her best friend's corpse, feeling no warm but only cold radiating from him.
She felt her eyes tear up, but immediately closed them shut for a moment. Crying won't do any good, It's not going to bring him back.
The mission was a total failure. She realized. It's not just Tommy who lost his life because of her but the child omnic too, she didn't even found the robot. She didn't know how much damage can omnics withstand. He's probably buried somewhere here too. She can't stand to think on how the poor robot must be feeling right now, all alone, thinking that everyone had left him to die.
Can omnics even die?
Everything can die, Alice Smith. Nothing is immortal.
The questions and thoughts were tormenting her but at the same time it was helping her stay focused on anything else than the pain.
Your mind... Khai-Ja spoke, her voice distorted.
Alice stayed silent, confused.
Think positive thoughts.
'What positive do you find about this situation?" She scoffed.
You are right, there is nothing positive about this situation. I am just trying to make focus on anything other than the pain physical as mental you are experiencing right now.
Alice, I apologise that I am unable to fix your emotional pain. It is much harder and it lasts longer. Some things just can't be fixed.
She sighed, feeling a little better.
Alert: Detecting multiple life signs moving above us. Alert: Detecting multiple unknown vehicles moving above us.
Her eyes widened.
Due to the host's history with humans, safe measure need to be used.
Going through possible solutions...
1. Alert humans to the presence of the host.
2. Continue attempting to recover the Core Functionality.
3. Do nothing.
Going through scenarios...
Option 1: Humans know of the presence of the host. Outcome: Unknown.
Option 2: Probability of being permanently trapped in current state: 95%. Probability of the host's life systems failure: 91%. Probability of permanent shutdown: 95%. The overall chance of success: 3%
Option 2 is not recommended.
Option 3: Inevitable Permanent System Shutdown due to steady increase in external damage, unresolved internal damage.
Option 3 is not recommended.
Attempting option 1: Alert humans to the presence of the host.
And sirens went off, coming from Scarab.
Alice heard people yelling and talking but everything was muffled. She squinted her eyes at the feeling of warm light pointed at her face, but she couldn't see it, Khai-Ja's energy level was too low to provide It's vision to her. Yells were getting more and more louder and she felt the huge debris that was crushing her body removed from her carefully. Her breath was unsteady but she was happy to taste the fresh air again than the smoke full of poison. Maybe that's why it took him that long to get here, the gas was still lingering in the air but it was so weak, she barely smell it.
She heard gasps coming from people as someone managed to pull her out, and she wondered how she was looking, was her armor still on?
Negative. I have deactivated defenses to conceal your identity.
She felt someone free her hand from the other one and she immediately tensed, realizing that they are seperating her from him. But it's not like she could protest.
Last thing she heard was the loud sirens of the ambulance as every last noise faded away, this time Khai-Ja letting her rest.