I don't own TMNT or UY.
Longest Chapter ever :|
P.S. Turtlefreak, you were right about the 'something' XD
Xxxxx
An Alarm started to blare, causing me to slow down slightly. I looked around hurriedly, expecting guards to yell and storm us, but there was no-one around. I frowned and came to a stop, drawing my second katana as I did a quick 360, looking the entire passage over.
"That's not for us is it?" Donny asked worriedly, gripping his bo staff tightly in his hands, looking over the area himself.
I frowned, doing another visual sweep, trying to listen for any approaching footsteps or men's voices. "I don't think so." I said.
"I do not hear any-one trying to ambush us." Usagi said, his head slightly tilted to one side as he listened.
I made a soft noise to myself. "Raph and Mikey." I said bluntly.
Donny swallowed, turning to look at me. "Maybe.. maybe I should go back. I can try and hack into the security system and, I dunno, stop it or something."
I shook my head. "We're gonna need you to deactivate this portal gate. We can't do it on our own Don. Besides, you're the only one who knows where the thing is. Raphael and Mikey are pretty good at taking care of themselves. They'll be ok.
Donny pulled a face, not liking my answer but he nodded anyway.
Usagi made an frustrated noise to himself. "I am concerned that they have been discovered so soon."
I nodded but turned to start moving again. "We'll quiz them about it when we see them again. Right now we gotta stay focused."
Usagi nodded in agreement and followed after me, drawing his katana with his free hand, his wakizashi already gripped in his other. Donny followed after us, looking over his shoulder worriedly to where the alarm was coming from.
After we discovered that our Shell Cells were useless in this place we quickly realised letting Donny stay at a computer station all by himself was pretty pointless. He might be able to turn off the security system and scramble some signals, but he wouldn't be able to do the things we actually needed him for. For one thing he'd already established he couldn't deactivate the portal gate from the computer, and now there'd be no way for him to instruct us on how to do it while he tried to look it up. He'd have to deactivate it himself in person. He was also the only one who could make heads or tails of the base's layout grid, so he was the only one who knew where the portal gate was in the first place as well as the containment cells. We needed him with us.
So now all three of us were trying to make our way to the lab where they were building the portal. So far we'd been going ok. We hadn't been caught yet and hadn't needed to get into any kind of fight. As we got closer and closer to our target we started seeing less guards. At first I was relieved, but after a while I started getting nervous. It felt like we were being set up for a trap or something. I still wasn't entirely convinced that we weren't, but at least the sudden alarm had given us some explanation as to why there was suddenly a lack of firepower around. They'd probably gotten word of an intrusion wherever Raph and Mikey were and had started heading that way and away from this side of the base. Although this meant good news for us I couldn't help but be worried. I know I just told Don and Usagi that they'd be ok, but I wasn't sure I believed myself.
I hoped that, wherever they were, they were trying to find the containment cells and not the portal. I was very concerned about this since I had specifically instructed them to look for the gate and not for Jotaro. Now things had changed and there was no way for us to tell them what's going on. I was making plans as I ran, trying to figure out how to get all of this under control again. I was hoping when we found the portal gate we could leave Donny to do his stuff while Usagi and I head for the cells ourselves. Don might not be able to guide us every step of the way but he could at least give us some rough directions to go on or something. I was wondering if I should let Usagi get Jotaro himself while I tried to find Raph and Mikey before regrouping with him and the boy. I thought about this but decided against it. Usagi was more than capable of handling himself, but it would mean leaving him to be by himself, avoid guards and try and protect a child while I try and regroup with Raph and Mikey who already had each other for backup. It just didn't sound like a good idea. I was just gonna have to have faith in Raph and Mike's skills.
Not that I didn't have faith in Usagi's. He was perfectly capable of looking after himself, perhaps more so than I was. Since he'd been staying with us for such a long period of time, we'd had more sparring matches than we'd ever been able to squeeze in before. Going against him so many times had given me a better idea of his fighting style. We were still pretty equal as far as skill and technique went, but I knew there were some things I had as advantages over him. I was a lot more flexible and agile than him, being a ninja and able to employ my acrobatics into my fighting. I was also physically stronger than he was. On the other hand though, Usagi had the advantage of speed. Not just speed of movement but also how fast his strikes with his blade were. They were incomparable. He also didn't hesitate when he struck. I was sure he'd have no problem getting around this base on his own. However we were still facing armed guards in a strange place we didn't know. It was better not to get split up. To be honest I wasn't happy about the idea of leaving Donny to deactivate the gate by himself either, but circumstances didn't give us much choice on what to do.
"Next right!" Donny called behind me. "Then there should be a set of doors leading to the observatory control room!"
I nodded. I wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but if it's what Don was looking for then that's where we needed to go.
We rounded the corner and ran down the hallway Donny had mentioned. I could see the pair of double doors in front of us. Somewhere behind me I heard a computerized woman's voice informing the guards which section of the base Raph and Mikey were in. Sector 3-10. I memorized the number and logged it away for when I could ask Donny where that was and if he didn't know, if he could perhaps find out.
We reached the doors and came to a stop. Me and Usagi put our heads to it, listening for any activity inside.
"Some-one's in there." I said.
Usagi nodded. "Two of them."
I looked the door over, expecting it to be locked. It didn't take much searching before I spotted the security pad against the wall. I moved closer to it, beckoning Donny over.
"Hey Don, come look at this." I said, leaning down to inspect it.
Donny trotted closer, leaning down to look it over too.
"Hmmm." He frowned to himself.
"Can you open it?" I asked, watching him.
He chewed his lip thoughtfully. "It requires a palm-print to be unlocked. Obviously none of us are gonna be able to open it up like that," He unslung his duffle-bag and unzipped it, scratching around inside. "so we're gonna have to find another way of getting inside."
He pulled out a small screw-driver and knelt down in front of the security pad, unscrewing it and pulling off its protective casing, exposing the wires inside. He started looking them over, putting away the screw-driver and pulling out a small pair of wire-cutters.
"I do not suppose they would be dim-witted enough to open the door if we merely knocked." Usagi said, looking over the closed entrance.
I couldn't help but snerk slightly at this. "Somehow I don't think so no."
Usagi nodded, a slight smile on his face. "Pity."
"Guys keep your voices down! They're not deaf ya know." Donny grumbled as he worked, scratching off the plastic coating of a wire and unwinding the copper threads inside it.
I nodded, turning to look back over my shoulder instead to make sure no-one was gonna spot us standing in the middle of the hallway like this. Usagi adjusted his grip on his katana impatiently, keeping his eyes on the doors, ready to lunge the second they opened.
Donny grumbled to himself, flicking a finger before sucking on it.
I frowned. "Everything ok?" I whispered, keeping my voice down.
He made an irritable noise. "Whoever designed this thing is either an idiot or a genius."
"Probably Baxter then." I said. I'd meant it as a joke, but to be honest it was a little too true to be funny. I hope he wasn't in this base as well. Two psychos were more than enough to deal with.
Donny made a noise again, frowning hard at the network of wires in front of him.
"They will start to suspect something if we do not hurry." Usagi said, turning to look at us urgently.
"I'm doing the best I can here!" Donny grumbled, shooting him a light glare.
"You know," I said as a thought struck me. "if Raph were here, he'd ask why we didn't just crack the thing open."
Donny frowned with a thoughtful noise, stopping his rewiring and looking the thing over. He traced his fingers along one of the threads, taking note of where it connected. He lifted the wire-cutters and quickly snipped two of the wires before he shifted backwards.
"Ok, go for it." He said, looking up at me.
I nodded before moving closer and slashing at the small panel with my swords.
The thing sparked and crackled before there was a decompressing sound from the doors themselves. Donny moved closer quickly and dug his fingers in between them before tugging one open. The minute there was a big enough gap Usagi shot forward into the room, me following close behind.
The two people inside turned out to both be scientists. They'd already turned to face us when Donny pulled open the door and now were trying to get away as fast as possible. The only way out the room though was the door we'd just come bursting in through. Usagi charged at one of them while I took care of the other, slicing him along his arm when I saw him lift his communicator to call the guards. I then delivered a sharp kick to his stomach, winding him and causing him to double over before I brought my elbow down on his head, knocking him out.
I turned to see if the other guy had been taken care of. Usagi had stabbed him in the shoulder and was busy slamming the butt of his short-sword against the man's head. He turned to make sure the guy I'd attacked was down before he straightened, flicking his blades clean and replacing them in their sheaths. He turned, giving me a single nod before he knelt down and started tearing off a strip of the man's coat to tie him up with.
I replaced my own swords before doing the same. No casualties this time. I appreciated the gesture.
Behind us, Donny tried to close the door again.
"We're gonna have to move fast." He said. "Chances are it won't be long before some-one spots that sparking security panel, and now we don't have any way of locking them out.
I nodded. "Believe me, I'm not planning to st-"
"Kuso!" Usagi swore.
I turned to him sharply.
He was staring ahead of himself motionlessly. His eyes were wide and his pupils contracted. I followed his gaze to see what had shocked him so badly, and froze.
The room we were in was, to put it mildly, small. It consisted of the door we'd came in through, about 3 feet of floor and then a large control panel running along the entire length of the wall. The control panel was about waist high, and completely covered in controls, levers, dials, touch screens, buttons and a vast amount of other technical read-outs and monitor devices. But this wasn't what he was staring at. Above the control panel, the rest of the 'wall' consisted of a thick Plexiglas window. Through it you could see a very sizeable room, more than two storeys high. We were on what you could call the second storey, looking down on the entire expanse of it below us.
It was mostly open space consisting of colourless tiles. On the walls I was able to see from here, there were large doors, with short, sloping walkways leading into the room. Further left, large, wall-mounted machines were blinking and flashing to themselves as scientists monitored their outputs. Further left still there was a long, rectangular control panel, unconnected to anything else running almost from wall to wall through the centre of the room, and beyond that was a another, much wider sloping walkway.
It led to the middle of an enormous oval shaped ring which rose all the way up the the ceiling. It was made of what looked like normal, industrial steel. Bolted and welded together from several slabs and curved sheets. Near the base it had a large triangular slab holding it in place made from the same material. It wasn't sleek and futuristic looking as I'd imagined it to be, but it didn't look low budget either. If Anything I'd have to describe it as looking practical. Bishop hadn't bothered with prettying it up. Thick robotic looking arms hung from large machines mounted to the ceiling, whirring and screeching as they made adjustments to the circular frame of the thing before they'd shift straight to the side or straight down and repeated the action. The centre of the ring was blank, revealing nothing but the empty wall behind it.
So this was it. This was what Bishop had been up to; why he'd sent Tibalt marching into 2nd Earth to find a specimen, why he'd torn a little boy from his father and why he'd put my friends and family through this whole ordeal. I felt my jaw lock. It was ugly. It was towering, ominous, dark and ugly.
I tore my eyes from it long enough to look at Usagi who was still gaping at it, completely dumb-struck. I swallowed.
"You ok?" I asked carefully.
His eyes fluttered as I broke his concentration and he nodded weakly. "Yes."
He turned away from the sight to look at me, he seemed badly shaken. "But I will be better when this abomination is destroyed."
I gave a nod. "That's why we're here."
I turned. "Donny."
My little brother was staring at the machine in front of us, his eyes darting back and forth as he traced its shape, scanning the large robotic arms and the flashing controls in the room below us.
"Don." I tried again.
He started and turned to me sharply. "Huh?!"
I pulled a face at him. "I think it's better they don't turn that thing on. Don't you?"
He blinked at me before he gave a nod. "Yeah." He unslung his duffle-bag to the floor before he walked to lean over the control panel. "No kidding."
As Donny tried to make head or tails from the control layout Usagi and I were free to stare at the giant machine in front of us again. It really was large. In my mind's eye I could see Bishop marching his 'super-human' army through the centre of it. I could see them with their futuristic weapons and bombs marching cross the peaceful hills and forests that were Usagi's home. I had only been there once, but I remember clearly what it had looked like.; Crisp air, bright sunlight and the wind that smelled only of trees and grass. No smoke or emissions or pollution. I tried thinking what it would look like with Bishop added to the mix. The vision that created itself in my mind made me shudder.
Usagi blinked at this and turned to look at me. He frowned at me lightly, his eyes flitting back to the machine briefly before he turned to face me properly.
"You are afraid of it?" He asked.
I turned to him, shaking my head. "No. I'm afraid of what it can do."
He gave a nod, turning to look at it again himself. "Me too."
I watched him silently for a few moments before I turned to see how Donny was getting along. He was still looking over the controls. I noticed now and then he would reach forward and press a few buttons cautiously before standing back again.
"Getting anywhere Donny?" I asked, turning to walk over to him. I was anxious to keep going and find Jotaro, but I wanted to know Don would be alright by himself.
Donny made a meaningless noise. "I'm not entirely sure what all of these controls do. I'm gonna need some time before I can figure out how to do some permanent damage to that thing."
I bit my lip. "How much time Don? I don't mean to pressure you but we don't really have a lot to spare."
Donny's face hardened and he gave an understanding nod. "It'll take a while Leo." He looked up from the controls to my face. "You and Usagi should go find Jotaro. I can manage here by myself."
I grumbled reluctantly. I knew I had been planning for this, but actually having to do it made me feel very uneasy. Donny blinked at me before he gave me a smile.
"I'll be fine Leo. Besides, you and Usagi aren't gonna be much use to any-one sitting around here and watching me work."
"He is right Leonardo." Usagi said, having turned to listen to the conversation.
I sighed and gave a nod. "Yeah yeah. I know." I turned back to Donny and gave a light shrug and an almost-smile. "Just watch your back ok? And if things start looking too risky head for the shell-sub and wait for the rest of us. Ok?"
He gave a nod. "Of course." He cocked a brow at me, smiling broadly. "I have done this before ya know."
I rolled my eyes at him. "I know, but I'm not too happy about being out of contact when Bishop is running arou-"
"Leonardo!" Usagi spoke up suddenly.
I dropped my sentence and turned to him hurriedly. He was staring out the Plexiglas window again, a deep, serious frown on his face.
"What's wrong?" I asked, quickly turning to look at the portal, expecting to see, I dunno, it glowing or powering up or something. I was relieved to see it hadn't changed at all.
Usagi nodded towards the floor below us. "The scientists have all gone. Only one remains."
"What? Why?" I turned my gaze to the large room's floor instead, frowning deeply to myself.
I froze as the sight that greeted me answered my question. Standing in the centre of the room, staring upwards and directly at us, was the black figure of Agent Bishop. He had his arms crossed behind his back, his posture as stony as ever. His head was raised to face the observation window we were peering through. For a brief moment I almost tricked myself into believing he hadn't spotted us, that behind his sunglasses he was perhaps thinking to himself, or staring at something against the wall. However when I turned to look down at him properly and felt my own shoulders tense and rise I saw the slightest hint of a smile spread on his lips.
I felt my face twist into a grimace as I stared back at him. Cocky bastard! Now doubt he'd spotted us and cleared his staff from the room, waiting for us to spot him return. It was a challenge, one he knew I couldn't afford to ignore unless I wanted him to corner us in this little box we'd put ourselves in.
I kept my eyes locked him as I spoke to Donny. "Don. Get down and out of sight quickly."
He blinked and looked up from controls. "What?? Why??"
"Just do it!" I said a little more urgently.
I don't know if Bishop had seen Donatello bent over the controls and pressing buttons. I was hoping he had kept his attentions on me and Usagi when he spotted us and hadn't noticed my little brother. I knew there was no reason for him not to have seen Donny as well, but somewhere in the back of my mind I was clinging to the desperate hope that he was paying too much attention to me to worry about Don. No offence to my little brother, but if you put the two of us next to each other I'll most definitely be seen as the bigger threat between us, if only because I carried bladed weapons and not just a staff.
'So use that to your advantage'. A voice in the back of my mind said to me.
I gritted my teeth tightly, forming a loose plan on what to do.
"Leo, what's going on?" Donny said, having crouched down behind the control panel, staring up at me worriedly.
I didn't look away from the window, keeping my gaze resting firmly on the lone man staring back up at me.
"It's Bishop." I said simply.
Donny gave a visible flinch and a small, squeak of a noise. "He's here?! He hasn't seen us has he?!"
"He's seen us." I replied, my tone of voice sounding oddly flat to me.
Donny gave a groan.
"This is your 'Bishop' then is it?" Usagi asked me, staring down at him as well. There was a strange bite to his tone of voice.
I said nothing. I wasn't sure Usagi was really expecting an answer.
"What do we do Leo?" Donny asked nervously.
"I don't know if he can see us clearly from where he is," I answered. "and even if he can I don't know if he's really interested in all three of us."
I turned away from the window just slightly, ready to leave. "Stay here Donny. We'll try keeping him busy while you shut that thing down permanently."
Donny blinked at me with wide-eyes. "Leo no! I'll come with you!" He started moving to get up again.
"No!" I said sharply. I almost turned to face him but stopped myself just in time. I didn't want Bishop to see me talking to a third person in the room. "Stay here Don. I'll be fine."
Donny bit his lip, his hands clenching. "I don't like this Leo"
"I know." I said. "But we need you up here."
Donny pulled a face before he sighed, sinking. "Ok. But be careful!"
I narrowed my eyes at Bishop, glaring at him hatefully before I turned away and started to walk out the room, turning to look over my shoulder at Usagi as I went. "Come on."
Usagi gave a nod and followed after hurriedly.
"Ganbatte" I heard him wish Donny luck as he left.
"Back atcha." Donny said with a nervous voice.
---
I marched down the hallway hurriedly, heading back the way we had come. When we had first headed this way I'd half noticed an elevator at the end of one of the side passages. I'd made sure to remember it in case we needed a quick escape, or more pessimistically, where guards might suddenly appear from if we were discovered. My plan was to use the elevator to go down one floor, then enter through one the doorways we'd seen leading into the portal room. From there I would try and get Bishop talking for as long as I can, buying time for Donny to do his work. If it came to it, I'd have to draw my swords against the man to keep his attention. I wasn't very fond of the idea. Bishop had some serious moves in him, and usually a fight against him ended up with me relying on luck more than anything else. However, I was already mentally preparing myself to face him. I couldn't really see how to stay out of a fight, despite how much I hated the idea.
I pushed the down button on the elevator and waited. The sound of Usagi's waraji sandals followed me before he came to stand beside me, waiting for the doors to open.
"Is this not risky? He asked, turning to look back over his shoulder to where we'd come from. "Will he not merely leave and call for his men to apprehend us?"
I shook my head. "No. Bishop likes to keep things personal." I said, putting extra venom into the word. "He'll wait for us."
Usagi nodded, turning back to the front. He still seemed unsure, but he didn't say anything else.
We stood in silence, staring at the steel doors, listening to the far-off ding as the machine rose up from one of the lower floors to meet us.
Plans and back-up plans ran wild as I tried to come up with different ways in which I could keep Bishop's attention away from the small window where Donny would be working. However, a different thought was working its way through my frantic strategies, and I swallowed.
"You should go." I finally mustered up the courage to say.
Usagi blinked and turned to me, looking confused. "Excuse me?"
"You should go." I repeated, purposefully keeping me eyes on the elevator doors. " You should go find Jotaro and get him to the shell-sub. I can take care of Bishop by myself. There's no point in both of us going and wasting time. It'd be better if you find your son while I keep him busy."
He blinked at me, the confusion leaving his face as he frowned at me lightly. He said nothing.
I took a breath and turned to him, giving a reassuring nod. "It'd be better. Bishop'll be more interested in me since he knows who I am. Besides he's after me and my brothers anyway, he won't think to go after you if you don't show up."
"He has already seen me." Usagi answered, staring at me with a hard expression.
I gave a nod. "Yeah, but if I distract him for long enough you should be able to at least get a head start away from here."
"I do not know where the cells are." Usagi said instead.
I made an aggravated noise. "You'll have a better chance of finding them than you would if we get into a fight."
"He will sends guards if he sees I am not with you." Usagi said.
"Ok ok I get it!" I said, turning to him. "Yes, I know alright?! But you'll still have a much better chance finding Jotaro if you go now! Look, we don't even know if Raph and Mikey are even looking for the boy! They might be heading here instead! You should go. Maybe if you're lucky you can run into them on the way or something and get out of here."
He said nothing for a few moments, keeping his gaze fixed on me. I stared back at him meaningfully, my face hard-set.
He remained unmoving for a few moments before he gave a slight sigh, his expression softening. He shook his head.
"I will not leave you to do this by yourself Leonardo."
I clenched my teeth. "This is no time to be all loyal Usagi!"
He gave a single, mirthless laugh at this. "You say that as if loyalty can be turned on and off at will. No. I am sorry my friend. I understand your concerns, and your logic is sound, but I will not leave you to face your fate on your own."
I put my hand over my face, making an irritable noise. "Dammit, you know I'm right!"
He gave a nod, his expression serious again. "I do. But I am unable to abandon a friend when I know they are about to face danger. It is a weakness I have."
"It's not 'weakness' Usagi. It's just plain, garden variety 'stubbornness'." I growled at him.
He turned back to me, raising a brow. "Perhaps. But if we traded roles, what would you do in my position?"
I made a noise at this. "Probably the same damn thing you're doing."
He gave a nod, turning back to the elevator doors as they opened. "Then you understand why I will not leave."
"Oh I understand alright." I said, entering the elevator, him following behind me. "It's 'cause you're an idiot." I hit the button for the floor below us.
"That is a little curt is it not?" Usagi said, tilting his head and pulling a face at me.
"Yeah?" I eyed him irritably. "If we switched places what would you be calling me, huh?"
He nodded at this. "You make a good argument."
The doors to the elevator opened again and we stepped out, heading down a hallway identical to the one we'd just come from, turning down a passage and heading towards the pair of double doors ahead of us. They opened when we got close and we stepped through them, entering the room with the large, ringed gate and the waiting figure of Agent Bishop.
He was standing in the same spot as he had been when I first noticed him. He turned to face us when we entered. I half wanted to glance at the, now rather small, window we had just come from to make sure Donny was ok, but I was afraid Bishop would notice and decide Don was a threat he needed to deal with. I still wasn't convinced he hadn't seen Donny already. He kept his eyes locked on me as we came a stop a few paces across from him. I had my swords sheathed, hoping to keep a conversation going for as long as possible before I need to use them. The longer we talked, the more time Donny had. I was aware that Usagi had also left his swords in their scabbards, following my lead. I wasn't sure if he was thinking the same things I was or if he was merely mimicking me based on faith in my plans.
Bishop kept his eyes locked on me for a long stretch of time before they drifted towards Usagi for a few moments. My eyes narrowed and I felt my shoulders tense slightly.
An emotionless smile flitted on Bishop's face for a moment before he turned his attentions to me again.
"Leonardo. I must say, I had not had not expected you and your family to get involved in my business this time around." He sounded almost amused.
"Yeah well you have a bad habit of making your business our business." I replied, making sure not to reveal too much of what we knew or why we were there.
"If you are here then I expect your hatch-mates aren't very far away." Bishop went on. "but I'm surprised to see you've brought a different kind of freak along with you this time."
The insult stung and I felt my temper rising slightly but I fought it back. Usagi said nothing and I didn't dare take my eyes off Bishop to see his reaction to this.
"He's not a mutant if that's what you're implying." I said to Bishop. Secretly, I hoped this would quell any peaking interest Usagi might hold for him. I couldn't help it, I'm protective by nature.
Bishop shook his head slightly. "I know he's not the same you and your family." He turned to face Usagi directly. "If my guess is right, then you are Usagi Miyamoto aren't you?"
I twitched lightly at this and I heard Usagi tense ever so slightly.
"I find it unmannerly of you to ask when you have not formally introduced yourself." Usagi answered with an even tone. "Further more, I am unsettled that you should know who I am without explaining yourself."
Bishop's brow furrowed slightly and I knew he was narrowing his eyes at Usagi behind his shades.
"Let's just say... I've met an acquaintance of yours who talks about you quite often." He said, a faint smile spreading on his face, driving the implication home.
Usagi didn't say anything in reply, he merely made a tight, disgusted noise and I heard him slide one of his sandals ever so slightly, widening his stance instinctively.
Seeing the growing tension I decided to get Bishop's attention back on me. We needed to draw this out for as long as we could before a fight broke out.
"Where is he Bishop?!" I said sharply.
The man turned to look at me again with an expression that looked almost like disapproval.
"You come and break into my headquarters and then expect me to answer your demands?"
"If you don't hand the boy over we'll tear this place apart looking for him!" I threatened.
"You know as well as I do that I have the upper hand here Leonardo!" Bishops said, his voice rising a little. "You'd be butchered alive before you'd even find where he's being kept!"
"Oh you wouldn't do that," I sneered at him. "After all, you still wanna get a good look inside 'here'." I tapped my plastron meaningfully. "I doubt you'd let your men do too much damage."
"They don't need to damage you." Bishop replied. "A whole body is good enough."
"Why waste your bullets?" I argued. "Just give us the kid and we'll get outta your hair!"
"I've dealt with you too many times to expect you to just 'get out of my hair' without doing at least enough damage to my base of operations to severely annoy my benefactors!" Bishop replied with a little more anger than he'd been using before.
"Well said."
The sudden, cheerful voice came as a shock. For a moment I almost thought it had been Bishop who'd spoken. However when he snapped his head to the side I realised we weren't alone. I quickly turned to see who'd joined the conversation, instinctively reaching up to put a hand to one of my sword hilts. Usagi took a step back so that I could see past him as he also turned to the speaker. The fact that Usagi hadn't heard him enter bothered me.
Leaning against the control panel running through the centre of the room stood the now infamous man in the blue-suit. He had his arms crossed and was watching us with a bemused smile on his face, obviously enjoying the fact that he'd caught us all by surprise. He seemed relaxed and unfazed by Usagi and me's presence in the base.
"I thought I gave Specific orders for this room to be cleared Mr. Tibalt." Bishop said with a generous amount of bitterness to his voice.
I blinked and half turned to glance at him out of the corner of my eye. That wasn't just annoyed Bishop talking, he sounded like he honestly disliked the man. Somehow I found this almost comforting. Maybe its something I could use to our advantage.
My train of thought was interrupted when I heard a low rumble grow in Usagi's throat, his hand tightening drastically on the hilt of his katana.
Tibalt turned to give Bishop a disarming smile. "Yes, but I thought it'd be rude of me to not greet our guests."
"We don't have time for your games Mr. Tibalt." Bishop said instead, glaring hard at the man.
"No no, you seemed to be playing his just fine." Tibalt replied, nodding his head towards me.
I felt my mouth dry at this.
"What do you mean?!" Bishop said irritably.
Tibalt shook his head and uncrossed his arms. "He's trying to distract you, and you're falling for it."
Bishop's frown deepened and he turned to me angrily, giving me an accusing look. I merely glared back at him with as much hatred as I could gather.
"Not that it matters though." Tibalt said cheerfully. "After all, the gate's already reached the phase where it's operational right?"
I felt my heart almost triple beat itself as blood drained from my face. Next to me, I heard Usagi take a shallow breath.
Bishop turned back to Tibalt, his anger rising. "Do you have a reason for exposing what is suppose to be classified information ?!"
Tibalt gave a light shrug at this. "I feel they've a right to know. They've come this far haven't they? And besides, you could say the rabbit and I are old acquaintances."
He turned to look at Usagi and his smile brightened ever so slightly. "Hello again Miyamoto-san."
Usagi gritted his teeth and tensed himself at this. I could see the hackles on the back of his neck rise. He didn't answer the man, glaring daggers at him. Tibalt didn't seem to take offence in the slightest.
"Last time I saw you, you were enjoying the fields on a sunny day." He went on as if Usagi and him were old friends who hadn't seen each other in a while. "I'm sorry I had to bid you good-bye rather swiftly. Business and all that."
"Where. Is. My son?!" Usagi spat, punctuating each word verbally, his eyes narrowing.
"Oh is that all you're after!" Tibalt said as if the thought hadn't occurred to him. "Good Lord! What a trip to take just for such a little thing!" His smile suddenly darkened, his tone becoming more levelled. "You've come a long way for the little bastard haven't you?"
Usagi gave a furious cry at this, ripping his katana from its sheath. I was barely able to intervene, grabbing hold of him and pinning him against me tightly.
"Usagi stop!" I tried desperately to calm him. Tibalt didn't so much as flinch at the outburst, his grin widening.
"Don't you call him that!! Don't you EVER CALL HIM THAT!!" Usagi screamed at him, struggling hard to break my hold.
"Usagi No! It's what he wants!" I said loudly, tightening my hold harder than I needed to, hoping to snap him out of it.
Usagi wriggled in my arms but stopped when he heard my words, puffing and panting as he gave Tibalt a fierce stare, wanting nothing more than to cut him to ribbons.
"Mr. Tibalt is there a point to all this?!" Bishop interrupted impatiently. "I hope you have a better reason to be here apart from playing your mind games! I am growing impatient with your emotional manipulations!"
Tibalt turned to him as if completely forgetting Usagi and I were still in the room. "Oh yes. But of course Mr. Bishop, forgive me for getting side-tracked."
He pushed himself away from the control panel and took a few steps towards us. I let Usagi go quickly, reaching back and drawing both my swords threateningly. Usagi, thankfully, had calmed himself down enough to not lunge at the man, but I could hear him breathing hard as he refused to take his eyes off him. I'd never seen my friend this angry before. It was frightening.
Bishop didn't react to Tibalt's approach, remaining where he was as he stared at him irritably.
"I've just gotten word from My Boss, and it seems that, since the Portal is at an operational level, he would prefer it if we activated it right away." Tibalt said, his cheerful smile still staying but his tone of voice holding something strangely ominous.
"We are not prepared yet Mister Tibalt." Bishop said impatiently.
"No, you are not prepared yet." Tibalt corrected him. "We have merely been waiting for the project to reach this stage. Now that it's working we can carry out our plans as needed."
Bishop honestly looked stunned for a moment before he frowned hard, talking through clenched teeth. "If you recall Mister Tibalt, the agreement was that we would build your employer the Gateway if he lets us use it to further our cause. We have not yet done the trial run needed for testing. We're not even sure what sort of affect switching this thing on might have, let alone what it would do to living tissue! The Gateway may be completed Mister Tibalt but we are far from completing the project!"
"Yes, yes. All very true Mr. Bishop." His smile turned into a wide grin. "But I'm afraid plans have changed. My Boss is in position to move now. He sees no reason to prolong this project any further."
"Your Employer wishes to use the Gateway tonight?!" Bishop nearly yelled. "Such Rash action borders on the moronic! I won't permit him to enter my base! We still need time! The device, is, not, Ready!"
"It is more ready than he needs it to be!" Tibalt said, suddenly raising his own voice as he reached into his pocket.
I tensed, expecting him to pull out a gun. Instead, however, it was a small, featureless key. Without bothering to turn around, he inserted it into a waiting hole in the control panel behind him, giving it a quick twist.
The colossal ring behind him suddenly sprung to life. I could hear the slow, growing hum of machines powering up as hundreds of threads of light suddenly started to thread across the metallic structure. The inner side of the circular frame started to slowly gain a light of its own, a sharp, piercing cyan which was steadily growing brighter until it became painful to look at directly. The wall that was visible through the centre of the ring started to look distorted, as if I was looking at it through melting glass. It started to darken and spin slowly as a large, black sphere formed itself, growing steadily as the humming and bright light grew in intensity.
"Tibalt! You go too far!" Bishop yelled, launching himself forward with terrifying speed. I had expected him to attack the man, but instead he pulled a twin key from his own pocket, hurriedly slamming it into its matching hole in the control panel and quickly hitting a series of buttons.
I turned to look at the ring expectantly, waiting for it to start powering down again.
It didn't.
The black circle in its centre was growing larger. Small, static charges were starting to spark on its surface.
"Oh, I forgot to mention!" Tibalt yelled over the noise. "I made a few last minute changes!" His smile broke, twisting into a cruel sneer. "You no longer have control Mr. Bishop, and your services are no longer required!"
"Your employer won't step one foot in this room Tibalt!! I will have him gunned down where he stands!!" Bishop yelled, rounding on him furiously.
"But Mr. Bishop!!" Tibalt yelled. The noise was becoming deafening as the florescent lights in the room flickered. "Whoever said My Boss was going to use the portal from This side?!"
"Leonardo!" Usagi suddenly yelled, grabbing me by an arm, his eyes locked on the growing ball of blackness in the ring's centre. "I can hear it straining!! It will not hold!!"
"Tibalt what have you done?!" Bishop was screaming, grabbing Tibalt by his collar.
"Your preliminary power setting was not sufficient enough for My Boss to make the crossing! I have imputed them to run at maximum!!" Tibalt yelled back over the noise, he was still smiling.
"Leonardo!" Usagi yelled again, giving my arm a hard shake. "We must leave!!"
I nodded, finally coming out of my trance and turning to follow him out of the room, breaking into a run.
We only got a few paces before there was an earth-shattering blast and I felt my feet get thrown over my head. There was a blinding light, and then sudden darkness.
----
Darkness.
A low, far off rumble.
A slowly growing, acrid smell.
Like something burning.
I could hear crackling, slowly getting louder as I felt a throbbing pain grow in my head.
Blurred shapes started to form themselves. Orange and flickering, punctuated by a very brief, fast line of blue.
I blinked and they focused more. The crackling and rumbling grew louder. I became aware of the wind rushing over me as the smell of smoke became sharper and more clear.
I blinked again, realizing I was on the floor. I shifted, putting my hands to the ground and pushing myself to my knees. My head was pounding and I could taste blood. I shut my eyes tightly before opening them again, looking around to try and make sense of where I was.
The entire area was flashing red in an even pattern and I could barely make out the sound of an alarm above the noise of the wind and the crackle and the booming rumble. There was fire. That's what was crackling. Several of the machines had been ripped from where they were mounted against the wall and had burst into flame. I could see long cracks in the floor tiles. The Control Panel in the centre of the room was all but destroyed, a large chunk of it had simply been torn off and broken into pieces by the explosion. At least two of the enormous robotic arms had been ripped from the ceiling and had crashed to the ground, sending electronic shrapnel everywhere. The Plexiglas window stood open and empty, the clear material broken and pulled from the frame.
The towering ring stood in the middle of it all, the metallic frame ablaze with cyan light, the large black circle gone, replaced by a swirling blue vortex which spiralled in on itself. Long, lightning-like flashes shot out from its centre, hitting the walls and floor, cutting gashes into the porcelain tile and steel sheets wherever it struck. Air was rushing inwards towards it like a vacuum, smoke and broken tile swirling in with it.
There was no sign of Bishop, or Tibalt or...
I nearly swallowed my own tongue as I jumped to my feet, panic shooting through me.
"USAGI?!" I searched the immediate area frantically, my breath becoming fast and shallow.
No reply came apart from a long coil of lightning striking dangerously close to me. I scrambled across the room, looking around wildly. My heart was pounding.
"USAGI WHERE ARE YOU?!"
I could barely hear my own voice above the roar of the open portal, trying hard to duck the flashes of sudden light. I clambered over the remains of one of the robotic arms, searching desperately.
My foot caught on something among the arm's twisted metal and wires and I fell to the floor with a sharp noise.
That's when I spotted him not too far off, completely unsheltered from the fire and the energy strikes. I quickly leapt up again, barely preventing myself from getting hit by one of the blasts from the portal as I rushed towards him.
"Usagi!!" I dropped to my knees, putting my hands on him. He wasn't moving.
I quickly turned him over, my breath caught somewhere between my throat and my lungs. He didn't react, his face horrifyingly placid.
"Oh God..." I shook my head. "Oh God No!!"
Xxxxx
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