Sayaka stood out on the balcony of Mami's apartment, taking in some of the cool night air to calm her nerves. She heard the glass door behind her slide open, and she spun around, hoping to see Kyoko standing there; but, it was just Mami.
"Hey..." Sayaka said, a bit of disappointment showing on her face.
Mami smiled. "Are you doing ok? Sayaka?"
"Yeah, just nervous…" Sayaka said, with a sigh. "I really wish Kyoko would hurry up and get back here…" Then her face became stern and she balled her first. "I swear! If she ended up just staying the night at my house without saying anything to us because it's closer, or because she stopped for a snack or something like that! I'm going to be really angry with her! I-I mean, doesn't she know we're all waiting up for her? What the heck is taking her so long!"
Earlier that night, Leiko gave the good news that Kyoko had successfully exited the lab after her meeting with Homura, or at least that's what she found out through hacking the lab's personnel logs. That was four hours ago, and the fact that she hadn't made it back to the apartment yet was a bit disturbing, especially considering that Dr. Kaiji had already found out their secret.
Leiko had been keeping her eye on a nearby military base, as well as local law enforcement, and claimed there was nothing to worry about. Although, she also pointed out that if Kaiji had figured out her power, it was possible for them to keep themselves invisible to her simply by avoiding the use of any digital devices.
The three girls eventually agreed on a certain time when they would abandon Mami's apartment for the night until things cooled down; Right now, it was 10:30pm. If Kyoko didn't show up by 11:00, Leiko said she had an idea of a safe place they could go.
"What if they altered the logs to trick us into thinking Kyoko left?" Sayaka shook her head, "I mean, I don't think they know that we have been hacking them… but it's really strange that Kyoko isn't here yet. Right? And we certainly can't trust that Kaiji guy to keep our secret…"
Mami put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "I've known Kyoko for a long time, and if anyone can get out of a bad situation it's her… besides, I think we can trust what Leiko found is accurate. Based on the timing, it would seem odd that this Kaiji would have been able to get the message around to not use computers so quickly without Leiko noticing something's amiss. I'm sure Kyoko's on her way back, something probably just came up."
Then they heard a slight shuffling sound, and a metallic clink from the railing of the balcony right behind them. Sayaka whirled around. "Kyoko!"
Kyoko was perched up on the railing, holding onto it with her hands in between her feet. She was still wearing her Dr. Sakura glasses, and the tail of the oversized lab coat blew in the wind below her feet. "Somebody call for a doctor?" She asked, with a sharp grin on her face.
Sayaka ran over to wrap her arms around her. Considering how precariously Kyoko was balanced on the railing of the seventh story balcony, she quickly jumped down so she could meet Sayaka's embrace on solid ground.
"You jerk." Sayaka said, with her face hugged tightly against Kyoko's shoulder. "What? The front door wasn't dramatic enough for you?"
"Well, actually…"
Sayaka had expected some kind of clever retort from the redhead, but could hear the sudden seriousness in her voice. She released herself from the hug, and looked Kyoko in the eyes, seeing that there was indeed going to be some bad news on the horizon. "What happened?" Sayaka asked.
"After leaving the lab, they started following me. That's why I decided to use the balcony."
"You were followed?" Sayaka asked, suddenly looking really concerned.
Kyoko shrugged, "I managed to shake them pretty easily, but decided to make a few random passes through the city just to be sure. That's the same reason I used the balcony, just to be on the safe side…" She looked at Mami and Sayaka. "Listen… Don't freak out, but somehow one of the scientists figured out my identity."
"Actually, we already knew about that…" Sayaka said, grinning awkwardly.
Kyoko looked back and forth between the two of them. "W-what? But how could you know that?"
Mami sighed, "Why don't we all go inside? I suppose we should all bring each other up to speed."
They all went back inside and gathered at the table while they each explained what had happened to them throughout the day. Sayaka told most of their side of the story, with Leiko simply chiming in on a few missed details, and anxiously retreating back to her computer to click around from time to time.
Then Kyoko told them her side, about how Kaiji had confronted her in the hallway of the lab, but ultimately let her go. "Well, I think my enchantment magic had something to do with it…" Kyoko explained, "But it's hard to tell for sure."
"After leaving, you're sure you were being followed?" Leiko asked, clicking around on her computer. "You're not just being paranoid?"
"Come on, who do you think you're dealing with here?" Kyoko said, folding her arms and letting her face become hard. "I wouldn't just imagine something like that."
"Well, it's just odd that there are no traces of this in their network…" She stopped to think about it. "It must have been Dr. Kaiji acting alone." She concluded, "He must have tried continuing with his own investigation off the books. Not expecting that you would manage to shake them so easily…"
"But then why would he let her go in the first place?" Sayaka asked. "That doesn't make sense."
"Perhaps he hoped she would lead them back to the rest of us?" Mami suggested. "I trust Kyoko did a good enough job losing them, though, so we shouldn't have to worry about that."
"Yup, no worries there." Kyoko said with a hint of smug, "Anyway, it doesn't really matter now, does it? Our parts done, Kay Sakura is never entering the lab again, and tomorrow Homura will be sitting at this table drinking tea with us."
Leiko continued clicking around on the computer, not bothering to respond to that.
"We should still be on our guard." Mami said, "We can't afford to get too comfortable and make any foolish mistakes. The fact that your identity has been uncovered is still extremely troubling."
Kyoko shrugged. "Whatever, it's not like I use my identity in the first place anyway." She sliced and open palm through the air to personify the point. "I'm completely off the books."
"Well, the rest of us aren't." Leiko said, with a touch of annoyance in her voice, "So I'd appreciate you not being so careless about this."
"Who's being careless?" Kyoko said, "You should have seen the way I ditched those guys who were following me. They probably had no idea I was even on to them."
Sayaka had been clicking around on her phone through the conversation, texting Madoka. She looked up from the phone with a smile and said. "Well anyway, I just let Madoka know Kyoko made it back safely."
Leiko turned away from the computer and adjusted her glasses, an uncharacteristically positive expression on her face. "You can go ahead and tell her the plans started too." Leiko said, "An evacuation has just been ordered. Looks like Homura managed to make the GriefSeed hatch after all. Just… try to be somewhat vague with your messages. You know, just incase."
"Heh, sure thing." Sayaka said, as she got to work on typing out her next message. "You can just delete these messages from the phone records anyway, right?"
"Yeah…" Leiko said, turning back to her computer and typing around.
"Homura is still going to need to hide out for a while once she is out." Mami said. "Hopefully she realizes she can't just go spend the night at Madoka's once everything is said and done."
"Don't worry about it." Kyoko said, "Homura's smarter than that, you know. Well, knowing her, she probably will go right to Madoka's, but they probably won't stay for long."
"What about Madoka's parents?" Sayaka said, "If the government does try coming after Madoka, wouldn't they end up getting caught up in it?"
"If that does happen, I can confuse their systems about where her house is actually located." Leiko explained. "That will give us plenty of time for us to get the Kaname's out on the run… I'll leave explaining what's going on to one of you, of course. Chances are, it won't even come to that. This place might be sanctioned by the government, but they tend to operate in secrecy. They would like to avoid something as public as a raid on a private... residence..." She continued to click around and started to seem troubled by something.
"Everything alright, Leiko?" Mami asked.
"Well… yeah." She said, adjusting her glasses but not looking away from the screen. "It's just strange… the elevator inside the lab hasn't been used yet… I'd think they'd be almost finished with their evacuation by now…"
Homura pulled Kaiji through the doorway by his wrist, then nudged him down the web littered hallway. "Keep running!" She said, "I'll catch up."
"Hang on, what are those things?" He said after only stumbling a few steps down the hall and turning back towards her. He adjusted his glasses, and his scientific eyes watched as Homura started pulling packs of C4 from under her shield. "And… how are you…"
Homura just turned her head to give him a dark expression as she started setting the bombs inside the frame of the doorway. "Just do as I say, and don't make me regret saving your life."
The images of the dead control room workers flashed through Kaiji's mind, and his face hardened. "You're the one who caused all of this."
"No, you did." She said after placing the fourth and final C4 pack. Then she started moving down the hall, and pushed Kaiji forward when she reached him. "You and everyone else who's involved with this goddamn lab caused this when you decided to imprison me." Annoyed that he still wasn't moving fast enough, she shouted "Run damn it! What the hell's wrong with you? We can talk later."
Kaiji glanced back one more time to see three of those spider creatures step around the C4 and into the hallway. He stumbled his first couple steps, then shook his head and forced himself to start moving at a quicker pace.
Everything felt so surreal to him as he tailed behind the dark haired girl who had been his captive less than an hour ago. His legs moved, but he didn't feel as if he was the one moving them. He might go as far as to describe this as an out of body experience. His body was moving of its own accord, while his mind observed everything as an outside spectator who was trying to piece together the plot of some complex sci-fi movie.
The visions he had when he was trapped inside that horrible place just moments ago still lingered with him. It had felt like he was being attacked by his own negative emotions, and being forced to remember all the worst moments of his life; confronted by all his fears, regrets, and tragic memories. From something as simple as missing his son's ballgame, to helping his brother alter evidence in order to cover for a dirty cop, and the ill-treatment of this very girl who now led him down the dark hallway.
Homura removed a small metal device from under her shield, and it only took Kaiji a moment to recognise it as a remote. "Keep your head down." She said, without so much as looking back at him. He did as she said, ducking his head under his shoulders while his feet still moved. Then, Homura pressed a button on the remote, and there was a loud explosion which shook the whole hallway. He felt himself pushed forward a step by the proceeding shockwave.
When it was over, he glanced back to see a few of those spider-like creatures managed to escape the blast and continued to chase them. Although, most of them had been caught in the explosion, and he saw their small burning bodies lost in the flames.
He could hear a horrid screeching sound from the dying arachnids. It was so loud that it pierced his eardrums, but simultaneously whispered something to him on a much deeper level… filling his head with raw, hateful emotions. He closed his eyes tightly, and discovered that his eyelids were wet. "OH god…" He said to himself, under his breath. "What the hell is this place?"
Homura suddenly turned around, and Kaiji's feet shuffled to a stop. She used one hand to push him out of the way, and then produced a handgun from under her shield. She raised it, and started firing.
Her shots rang out in quick succession; the first two missed their targets, but then the third blew one of the creatures back. It took her only two shots to hit the second spider. Then Homura fired at the last spider four times, each shot missing and simply chipping away pieces of the wooden floor by its feet as it crawled closer and closer. She steadied her hand, and tried again, but still missed.
She clicked her teeth and tossed the gun away, then produced a knife from under her shield and kneeled down into an attack position. The creature was just a few meters away at this point, and would soon be in range to leap at her.
Then, in the blink of an eye, Homura used her teleportation. When she reappeared, she was kneeled down by the spider which was now impaled by her knife. She gripped the handle tightly, and twisted.. It hissed, and squirmed around as it started dissolving into black goo.
Kaiji looked down to the fire at the end of the hall, and saw more burning spiders emerging. The room they escaped from had thousands of them, and it seemed some were still trying to force their way out, but not making it very far.
Homura stood, and continued walking down the hall with that dark expression on her face. When she glanced Kaiji's way, he flinched and felt his heart jump, because for a moment she looked as if she could end up turning that knife on him.
"We should keep moving." She said, in a cold voice, and she returned the knife under her shield. As they continued down the hall, Kaiji couldn't help tilting his head back and forth to try and see behind that strange device on her arm which she had adamantly refused to let them experiment on. Homura noticed him through the corner of her eye, gave him another dark expression, and hid the shield at her side.
Kaiji straightened his posture. The faces of the dead control room workers were still in the back of his mind, and he knew that Homura must have been responsible for it somehow. Homura, and Kyoko Sakura as well. He wanted to confront her about it, but at the same time there were so many other questions he wanted to ask. He didn't know where to begin.
"What is this place?" He asked.
"If I were to compare you to an insect in an analogy, then this place is exactly as it appears. A spiderweb. The difference is, the spider who created it feeds off its victims minds rather than their physical bodies."
"That giant creature…" Kaiji said under his breath, remembering the horrific experience… "It was feeding… off of my mind?"
"Yes, the negative emotions of humans is what fuels them. Whatever it showed you, it would be wise for you not to dwell on it too much. That creature you encountered, however, was not really the spider in this analogy. If you were to have been attacked by the true master of this realm, I doubt I would have been able to save you in time." She turned to him with narrow eyes. "Why are you still here in the first place? I told you to get out."
Kaiji stiffened, and his feet stopped moving. "It was you." His head bowed down slightly and his glasses caught a reflection which hid whatever expression may have been behind them. "You're the one who brought it here."
Homura looked back at him, her face not showing any guilt. "I did."
Kaiji's fist tightened, and he suddenly punched the wall. "Damn it! Two good people are dead because of you!"
Homura's eyes widened, and she took a step back, abandoning her controlled posture for the first time since this started. "What?" She seemed deep in thought for a moment, then she tensed up and said, "If you had just done what I said and evacuated!"
"We couldn't. Someone tampered with our security system, and… the two control room workers were found dead just a couple minutes after your warning. I'm assuming whoever did that worked in coalition with you."
Homura's eyes shifted. "No…" she whispered.
He thought about going further on to explain that he already knew Dr. Sakura's true identity. He held himself back from that however, for the simple fact that he was the only person who knew, and therefore it might make Homura see him as even more of a liability. Like it or not, he was at her mercy right now, and he had to be carfull.
"These people…" Homura continued, "They were dead before the initial explosion? How did they die?"
"They were strangled to death. It looked like razor wire, because whatever was used to strangle them cut into their necks. I'm also assuming there was more than one attacker, since both of the two men were still in their seats, meaning they must have been killed at the same time. So… what do you know about this?"
"Nothing." Homura said. After a long moment, she continued walking. Kaiji followed her. "I acted alone tonight, and I was not the one to kill those men. It is unrelated to me."
"That's a bit of a huge coincidence, don't you think?" Kaiji said, keeping himself right over her shoulder as he continued the interrogation. "I can draw another conclusion by the simply fact you didn't do this sooner. You needed to be given something, didn't you? Therefore, it would make sense that you and Dr. Sakura, at least, had a prior relationship."
Homura scoffed. "That's ridiculous. She is a simple psychologist." She glanced back at him from over her shoulder, "One that you hired, I'll remind you."
So, we're still not being honest with each other, huh? Kaiji thought.
"Although I'll agree it is an unlikely coincidence that your lab would be attacked on the same night I planned my escape. Therefore, I think there may be a third party involved. One that wanted to prevent me from escaping.."
"A third party? Wait… and they want to prevent your escape?"
"The reason I wanted to give you time to evacuate wasn't simply for the sake of sparing your lives. I needed there to be no humans in this lab for my escape to have the best chance of succeeding. Whoever did this knew that was the case, and therefore shut down your control room to prevent the evacuation. Thus sabotaging my plan."
"But… who could have know all of that? And have the ability to put it together?" Kaiji thought about it. "The way you are talking about this, it's as if you know who it was. So, would you like to enlighten me?"
"There is someone, unrelated to you or your staff, who would benefit from me being locked up. But I do not know how he could have pulled this off. Aside from him, the only other people who know about me or would want to stop my escape are you and your coworkers." She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I think this third party being related to your staff is an unlikely scenario. Unless you people know a lot more about me than I think you do."
They crossed through a threshold and found themselves in a lighter colored hallway without spiderwebs all over the walls. This hall was the type that Homura had started in, and it had those same strange pictures hanging on the walls. "I'd suggest you try your best not to take notice of any of these paintings."
Kaiji glanced at one of the paintings as they passed by, and he saw an image of a rocking chair with spiderwebs all over it. He looked down the hall which stretched as far as he could see, with a new threshold to cross ever thirty meters or so. Kaiji came to the same conclusion the group of guards did earlier, that this parallel of the lab would allow her to move around without being hindered by the steel doors. Thinking about it that way, it made perfect sense how all of this was related to an escape plan.
Kaiji was still bewildered that something like this was even possible. When they started the Subject One project, they knew they would be discovering things that humanity had never seen before, but this went far beyond his wildest expectations.
"So I take it we are technically still in the lab?" He asked, trying to confirm his theory.
"No, not really." Homura answered, and not offering much explanation beyond that. "Once I defeat the creature that controls this world, however, we will be returned to the lab…" She slowed down to a stop, Kaiji followed her cue and stopped as well, still a couple paces behind her. "Once this is all over, we could end up popping up in any area of the lab. The reason I brought this creature here, is so I'd have a chance to make it to the elevator room and escape. However, if that's not how things turn out, and we end up somewhere I can't escape from. Like another test room. What do you think is going to happen to me?"
"Well…" Kaiji didn't know how to answer. He had hoped getting rid of Endou would give himself more control over how Homura was treated, and he could make things better for her. After tonight though, he wouldn't have much room for argument about any extra security measures which would be needed to keep her under control. Those extra security measures would mean less freedom for her, and if glazadrine were to be approved, Homura would be put into a state where she couldn't even think about escape; she wouldn't be able to think about much of anything at all.
"That drug that was put into my food… I imagine I had only gotten a small dose, especially since I managed to spit most of it up again. That was done to me when I was only seen as a moderate threat. Now that it's clear how high my threat level actually is…"
They crossed another threshold and found themselves with a wall directly in front of them. The hall split in two different direction; they could either go left or right.
She still had her SoulGem hidden under her clothing, embedded into her chest, hoping to at least keep that a secret from the scientist. She conferred with it, feeling for the witches presence, then pointed down the right path, and continued to lead the way.
"Even that small dose of the drug has severely hampered me. Remember those spiders I was shooting at earlier? Normally, I wouldn't have needed to waste a single bullet, but now I'm sluggish. Unfocused. I can only imagine what a full dose of the drug would do to me."
"It won't turn you into a vegetable. If that's what you are thinking." Kaiji didn't point out that something like that would completely defeat the purpose of them taking her here in the first place.
"Then what does it do?" Homura asked.
Kaiji cleared his throat, and explained. "The sluggishness you now feel is a temporary side effect of your body having not adjusted to the new balance of chemicals. After a few weeks on the drug, that side effect would ware off, and your precision and motor functions would no longer be impeded. However, the permanent effect is… well, the easiest way to describe it is you would permanently be dreaming."
Homura frowned, and Kaiji felt his voice faltered slightly, but he continued. "When in a cycle of sleep, the brain has a different way of allocating memory. The drug takes advantage of this natural state but applies it to when you are actually conscious. Generally, the rearrangement of short term and long term memory has been shown to make the user more… programmable. It also alters the production of adrenaline and hormones to make its user docile… On top of that, it's highly addictive..."...All in all, it's the perfect mind control drug.
Homura was quiet for a moment, as she thought it over, then said "So basically, it would turn me into a puppet. Without memories, I really wouldn't even be myself anymore. Would I?" Kaiji didn't respond. Homura's fist tightened. "You monsters. How could you even think of doing that to someone?"
"No." Kaiji said, "That was never the plan. For the most part, our staff recognises that the drug is inhumane and we had no intentions of using it on you. Dr. Endou went outside his authority and forced it on you without the consent of the rest of our staff. I didn't even know about it."
"I don't really know if I believe you… but even if that is true; now that my true power has been shown, chances are your staff will consent to its use. Won't they?" She clicked her teeth and flung her hair to the side. "You're standing there acting as if you hold some kind of moral high ground over them, but from what I can tell, you are not actually any different."
"I…" Kaiji's eyes shifted away, "I at least wanted to treat you humanly, and make things comfortable for you here."
"You really are a naive fool. Aren't you?" Homura said, dryly. Kaiji looked like he wanted to get defencive, but his eyes ended up just sinking away. "There is nothing humane about taking an innocent person and locking her in a cage for the rest of her life. You can decorate it any way you like, but a cage is still a cage. To tell you the truth, I think I prefer Endou over you, because he at least isn't in denial about the fact that he is a monster."
"That's… not true." Kaiji said defensively, "We're not monsters. We are scientists. Our goal is to study, to learn things, advance our knowledge of the world. Our research could discover things that could benefit all of mankind!"
"So the ends justifies the means? What we're talking about here, is human experimentation. Unless of course you don't see me as human. That would explain why you don't have any qualms about putting me in a cage. So which is it?"
"That's…" Kaiji wanted to deny it, but he couldn't think of anything else to say. Some part of him knew that she was right, but how could he admit that? He dedicated his life to this. His research was his life! If science was wrong, then what was the meaning of his existence? "Thats…"
"Whatever, if you wish to delude yourself I won't stop you. However, you should understand now that failure is not an option for me. The way you described the drug, if I'm still trapped here when all this is over, it would be as good as death for me."
Homura sounded like she still had more to say, but then they heard something. There was a series of loud pops echoing through the halls. Gunshots. "You said there were still guards here?" Homura asked.
Kaiji nodded.
Homura put her hand on her shield and turned to look at him. "I'll be right back."
Kotaro quickly grabbed Murakami by the shoulder and pulled him back up to his feet. Shots rang out from just behind them as Furuhata unloaded his weapon into the horde of spiders crawling out of the hole in the wall.
"Come on!" Kotaro shouted at Murakami who was stuck just staring with a shocked expression on his face.
"Right!" Murakami shook himself out of it and tried raising his own gun into position. The motion caused him to grunt and wince forward because of the wound on his shoulder from where Hiroshi had shot him. "Damn it!" He cursed, letting the rifle go limp in his grasp, and using his good hand to nurse the wound.
Kotaro was quick to raise his own gun, and joined Furuhata in firing at the creatures. The three of them backed away slowly as shot after shot rang out and echoed down the halls.
"They keep coming." Furuhata said, dropping the spent magazine from his rifle, and reaching for the spare clipped to the back of his belt. "This is useless." His skilled hands had the weapon reloaded in a matter of seconds. However, they were only provided with one spare magazine and therefore this round of bullets would be his last.
Kotaro stared down the sights of his own weapon, and calmly expended a single shot as he shifted from one spider to the next, prioritizing the ones that were the closest. Each shot hit its mark and would leave the creatures hissing and rolling over onto their back.
The two of them were doing a good enough job keeping the spiders back, but more were appearing out of the hole as quickly as they were able to put them down.
"How about making a run for it?" Kotaro suggested, as he continued to focus on his shots. His voice was incredibly stable considering the situation.
"Seems we have no choice." Furuhata agreed, "Come on." And with that, he turned and led the way up the north path which they had originally decided on.
Murakami started following Furuhata right away, but Kotaro waited a moment to get a few extra shots off. Murakami glanced back at him, and noted how skillfully each shot was executed: he never wasted a single bullet. Furuhata had taken about twice the number of shots as Kotaro, and probably only hit about half as many targets.
Kotaro, feeling satisfied he had driven the wave back far enough, turned on his heels and followed after his two companions. He quickly slid the Magazine out from under his rifle to check the bullets: His clip was about halfway full, and he still had a spare magazine holstered in his belt.
"Murakami." Furuhata started to ask as they ran. "How's your wound?"
"Not life threatening." He said, with a bit of a rough voice. "I got lucky with where the bullet hit, so I should be ok, but I can't raise my arm at all. It's impossible for me to shoot."
"Then remove the magazine and leave the gun on the ground. No need to let it slow you down, and we'll need the extra ammo."
Murakami was delayed in his response, but realized that Furuhata's logic was correct. "Right." He said, then began working at unloading his own weapon. It only took a few seconds, and once it was done, he passed the magazine off to Furuhata. He then retrieved his spare magazine from its holster and handed it out to Kotaro.
"No need." Kotaro said, "Let Furuhata have the extras." He turned and winked, "I'm a much better shot."
"Cocky as ever, huh?" Murakami grinned, "Even in this situation." He held the magazine out to Furuhata instead.
Furuhata accept the spare with an affirmative grunt, and fixed it into his belt. "You do seem rather calm about this whole situation, Kotaro."
"You know what?" Kotaro laughed. "Maybe this just makes me screwed up in the head, but I don't really mind this."
Furuhata glanced over to him with a raised eyebrow as the three continued running down the hall.
Kotaro continued. "I mean, how many chances like this do you get to show off your skills like this? I'm an ace with shooting these things, but I barely ever get a chance to put it to the test." Kotaro glanced over to Murakami, and Murakami could see something peculiar in his eyes. His pupils were dilated to pinpoints, and it was clear he was extremely focused, yet somehow he just couldn't wipe the smile off his face. "Right now, I'm having the time of my life. Don't worry guys, we are definitely getting out of this alive. There's no way I'm getting taken out by a bunch of overgrown bugs!"
Kotaro glanced back as another fork in the hallway came into view. Luckily, the spider creatures weren't too fast, and it would be easy to outrun them as long as they kept moving.
"What about Hiroshi?" Murakami asked. "I mean, what the hell was that? It's like he was a completely different person all of a sudden."
"I have no idea." Kotaro answered, "But…" His voice trailed off. He wanted to say something about the pictures on the walls. Specifically, the picture of a swimming pool that he had found himself staring at before Hiroshi turned on them. Once he started staring at it, it felt like something pulling him in. He became lost in thought, remembering a tragic day from his childhood. It would be a difficult sensation to put into words, but if his companions hadn't distracted him, he doubted he would have been able to look away.
"Whatever the case." Furuhata said, "We'll have to accept him as a casualty. If we do see him again, and if he is armed, I'm afraid we'll have no choice but to take him out."
"Take him out?" Murakami asked, almost shocked by the decision. "You're kidding me, right?"
"No…" Kotaro said, his voice becoming dark. "Furuhata's right. We'll give him a chance to drop his weapon of course, but right now he's unpredictable. He already fired at us once, and seriously injured you. We can't let that happen again, it could mean one of our lives next time."
Murakami didn't seem to want to agree with it, but he supposed he couldn't argue. "Ok, I guess you're right."
They slowed as they reached the fork. This time, there were only two paths, and they each split off in a 45 degree angle. This kind of layout didn't exist anywhere in the lab, and they finally knew for certain that they were indeed no longer in the lab.
"What now?" Murakami asked, as all three slowed to a stop, quickly considering the two options.
Kotaro turned around and readied his weapon, focusing his sights down the hall at the group of spiders that were coming after them. "Whatever, just hurry up and make a decision." He said, lining up the sights on the first of his targets. "I don't want to waste too much ammo if I don't have to."
"The paths are identical." Furuhata said, and started moving down the left path. "Let's just pick one." Indeed, both paths just continued on in a never ending corridor. Each with wooden floors, flower wallpaper, and pictures hanging on the walls.
"Wait." Murakami said, looking down the right path. He felt a cool breeze pass over him, as if he were in front of an air conditioner. Except, as the air brushed over his body he could almost feel it pulling at him. He looked down at his hand and felt something tugging on his wrist. He looked closely, and could see a slight indent in his skin as if a very thin thread was wrapped around his wrist. 'This way…'
"Let's go this way instead." Murakami said, quickly.
Kotaro sighed as he let a shot burst out from his gun which hit it's target cleanly. He then focused on the next one which was still just a little further away. Twenty meters, he decided. He would shoot as soon as they come within twenty meters. "Come on, decision please."
"It doesn't matter, right?" Murakami said again. "So let's go this way."
"Sounds good to me." Kotaro said, firing off two more shots, and killing two more spiders. "All I know is, standing right here is currently the worst possible option."
"No, stop." Furuhata said, his voice becoming stern. He put a hand on Murakami's shoulder and turned him around forcefully, then looked deep into his eyes. "Are you feeling ok?"
"Seriously guys!" Kotaro said, "Picking off these stragglers is no problem, but we don't want to waste our ammo taking out the whole group! We'll need everything we got if we run into more of these things!"
"I'm feeling fine." Murakami said, knocking Furuhata's hand away from his shoulder. "So like Kotaro said, quit wasting time. Let's go."
Furuhata's eyes narrowed. "If the paths truly don't matter, let's go with the one I've chosen."
"Furuhata," Kotaro started, "I respect the confidence, but nows not really the best time for..."
"Kotaro." Furuhata said, "Isn't Murakami sounding a bit like Hiroshi right now?"
Kotaro's eye's widened as he fired another shot, this one being a rare miss. He quickly corrected his aim and took the spider out with the second shot, then fired off two more shots at two more spiders. "Alrighty." He agreed, and quickly turned on his heels. "Left it is."
He didn't want to admit it, but there was a chance Furuhata was right. Hadn't Hiroshi said something along the lines of, 'She said she'll come back for the rest of you'? Kotaro didn't know who 'she' was, but if 'she' was responsible for Hiroshi freaking out on them, Kotaro didn't want to take any chances where 'she' was concerned.
He figured the best way to know for sure would be to challenge Murakami on the issue. Hiroshi was violently adamant about going his own way, and if Murakami has the same ailment then it would become obvious right away. Kotaro silently prayed that this would not be the case as he turned toward the left path, keeping note of Murakami's taser through the corner of his eye.
"Guys seriously!" Murakami said, refusing to follow them. "We need to go this way! It's dangerous."
"How could you possibly know the difference?" Furuhata challenged him.
"There's a…" He paused and he became distracted. Then he nodded slowly, and looked as if he were trying to listen closely to something that was hard to hear. "There's some kind of witch or something down there… if we go this way instead…"
"A witch?" Furuhata asked.
"I'll take my chances." Kotaro said, shooting him a grin. "I dated a witch once. I've got experience dealing with cold bitches. Now hurry up and come along, Murakami, before we have to drag you." Kotaro glanced down the hall at the spiders. "Those things are getting closer, I'm not going to wait much longer for you."
Murakami looked between Kotaro and Furuhata. They both had weapons, and Murakami himself was currently unarmed. However, he knew he had to take the left path, and he knew that they were going to try and stop him. "Ok." He said, his voice toneless. His fingers slowly reached for the taser holstered at his side. "Have it your way, let's take the left path."
"Alright then." Kotaro turned his back on Murakami and started heading down the left path. After taking one step and lifting his leg for the second, he suddenly spun around on his heel. Murakami already had his taser out of it's holster and pointing at him, but flinched in surprise at how quickly Kotaro moved.
By the time Murakami fired the taser, Kotaro was already charging at him. He gripped his gun with one hand on the barrel and the other on the handle, using it to bat the electrical charged taser wires out of the air. "Sorry 'bout this." Kotaro said with a grin as he shifted the angle of his weapon so the barrel faced the floor, and then plowed forward and drove the blunt end into the side of Murakami's face. He caught him right in the sweet spot under the ear, resulting in an instant knockout.
Furuhata had produced his own taser and circled around, keeping it focused on the unconscious Murakami as he fell to the floor. "Kotaro." Furuhata said, nodding his head towards the spiders. There were at least five within ten meters of them now, and the larger part of the group was about twenty meters away.
"Pick Murakami up and start moving, I'll drive the wave back as far as I can then follow right after you." Without wasting another second, Kotaro had his sights trained on the spiders and started shifting from one to another, firing a single bullet with each pass of his rifle.
Furuhata strapped his gun around his back, and then bent down to pick up Murakami. His eyes were closed, and he was bleeding from the gash on the side of his head. Furuhata noted a spiderweb tattoo on his neck which he knew for a fact was never there before. He remembered Hiroshi had the same kind of tattoo on his neck when he started freaking out. Furuhata didn't know what was going on here, but it made him nervous, because they had no explanation for what exactly these tattoos were and what it meant.
At least six shots rang out from Kotaro's gun in quick succession as Furuhata got his hands under Murakami's arms to hoist him up.
Then, all of a sudden, Murakami's eyes shot open and his hand darted at Furuhata's neck. Furuhata grunted as Murakami's hand wrapped around his throat and started squeezed with incredible force.
He coughed and grabbed Murakami by the wrist with both hands, trying to force his hand away. Furuhata had much more upper body strength than Murakami so it should have been easy, but Murakami's grip was so tight it was like trying to bend a steel girder.
"Furuhata!?" Kotaro exclaimed, only briefly glancing back at the struggle, and then refocusing on the task at hand. Crap, crap, CRAP! "Your taser! Use your taser!" He shouted out as he continued to pick off the spiders.
Furuhata, still being choked and trying to force air into his lungs reached for his belt and unfastened the taser. Murakami slowly raised himself to a stand, his hand not loosening it's inhuman grip for even a second. Furuhata grasped the taser tightly and then jammed it into the side of Murakami's neck and pulled the trigger.
The taser buzzed, and Murakami's face scrunched up as the muscles in his neck contorted, but his grip didn't loosen. Furuhata pushed the taser into his neck even harder, but it made no difference. It's normal for grip to remain tight when being tasered, since the electric shock contracts the muscles, but Murakami should have lost control of his body and his legs should have given out, making it easy for Furuhata to shake him off. This wasn't happening, however.
Murakami showed some discomfort in his face, but his composure remained strong. It was impossible! This taser was nearly three times more powerful than the ordinary kind, because it was meant to be used to subdue Subject One if she got out of hand. There's no way an ordinary person could still stand through it the way Murakami was now!
Kotaro was vaguely keeping track of the struggle through the corner of his eye, but the focus of his attention was on the spiders, there were too many of them and if he stopped firing they would be on him in a matter of seconds.
How many bullets did he have left in this clip? He wasn't sure, but the rate at which the spiders were coming now, he wouldn't have time to reload. He could hear them hissing and baring their fangs which would be downed out with each pull of the trigger letting loose a deafening crack down the hallway.
"Damn it!" He screamed.
Knowing his ammo would be out soon, he realized he had no choice. He turned around, and aimed at Murakami.
"MURAKAMI!"
He pulled the trigger, but closed his eyes tightly as soon as he heard the shot ring out. He didn't want to see the aftermath of what he had done. "Damn it!" He cursed, tears pushing through his closed eyes.
Although this only lasted a moment, to him it felt much longer. Then, the survival instincts in the back of his head reminded him of the horde of spiders at his back, and the fact that they would be clawing into him at any moment if he didn't move. He prepared himself to grab Furuhata and make a run for it.
When his eyes opened, he gasped. There was someone new standing there between himself and Murakami… a girl!
"Miss. Akemi?" He said, his mouth dropping open. She had just appeared out of nowhere! Not only that, she was holding her hand out with the bullet Kotaro had just fired pinched between her thumb and forefinger. She flicked it away, then spun around and touched her fingers to the spiderweb tattoo on Murakami's neck. There was a bright flash of light, and all of a sudden Murakami's legs gave out from under himself, his grip loosened, and his body fell limp to the ground.
Furuhata backed away, gasping and trying to regain his breath. He was just a few short moments away from unconsciousness himself, after having his breathing cut off, but now he was going to be fine.
Homura walked towards Kotaro with quick steps, her intense eyes revealing no emotions as she approached him. She grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him behind herself, and then she disappeared. Kotaro's first instinct was to ready his gun, seeing that the spiders were just a couple meters away from him now. He could have shot a few and then made a run for it, but that would require leaving Murakami behind to be devoured by the horde. None of that was necessary, though.
A moment later there was a series of explosions throughout the entire hallway which engulfed almost the entire horde of spiders in flames. Kotaro jumped back, and he and Furuhata both put their hands over their ears and stared in disbelief as one explosion after another rang throughout the hallways. Each blast was preceded by a shockwave which threatened to force them back a step.
When it was over, Homura reappeared, this time, Dr. Kaiji was with her. He fell to the ground, landing on his hands and knees, as the heels of Homura's shoes touched down lightly with a small clink.
"D-Doctor?" Kotaro blurted out.
Furuhata unslung his gun from behind his back, and quickly aimed its sights on Homura.
"Stop!" Kaiji shouted, scrambling back to his feet. "Hold your fire!" And he quickly got between Homura and Furuhata. "Listen, she saved my life." He took a quick glance around, noting the burned creatures and the unconscious guard who he didn't know the name of. "And from the looks of things, she just saved your lives as well."
Homura looked past Kaiji and stared down the guard who still had his gun aimed in her general direction. She flipped her hair back and proceeded to walk past the two of them. "Wait a second!" Furuhata said, turning his gun with her movement. Her head tilted towards him and she narrowed her eyes. Her lips pierced down into an unamused frown.
Next thing he knew, she had disappeared and reappeared in the threshold of the left hallway. She was holding something in her hand and casually tossing it up into the air and catching it again. It took Furuhata a moment to realize it was a bullet clip. He looked down to see the one attached to his own gun had disappeared, and the safety pin had been flipped on.
"Don't do anything stupid, please." Homura said to him, "I'll say to you what I told Kaiji. Be grateful that I am saving your lives, and do as I say. Now… which of the two of you is the better shot?" She glanced back towards Kotaro, "Based on the number of dead familiars I saw, I'm guessing it would be you."
Familiars? Kotaro realized she could only be talking about the spiders. "Well, yeah. That would be me."
"Then Kaiji and the other one here should carry your unconscious friend. I don't necessarily need an extra gun helping me, but at the same time it can't hurt. However, I will ask that both of you drop your tasers on the ground. Is that alright?" When Kotaro didn't respond right away she looked directly at him and said. "I can take it away myself easily enough, you know."
Kotaro grinned. Cool and intense, that's how he had described her, and she was certainly living up to it. He might of said she wasn't his type, but if she was a few years older she certainly would be. "Alright then, Miss. Akemi." He said as he unclipped his taser and let it fall to the ground. "Am I still suppose to call you Miss. Akemi, or can we switch to personal names now?"
Homura's position changed slightly, simultaneous with the two tasers on the ground exploding into small fragments.
Her eyes narrowed. "Call me whatever you wish. We won't be seeing each other again after tonight anyway." And with that she started moving down the right path. "I'm going to go confront the creature which controls this place. It's dangerous, but staying by my side is still the safest place for any of you. I suggest that's what you do, but I will not force you."
Junko yawned as she stepped out into the dark hallway, scratching her belly through her nightgown. She looked down the hall and noticed the light under Madoka's door was still on. She frowned, thinking 'what's that girl doing now?' It was already past midnight, it was odd for Madoka to still be awake at this time.
Madoka really had been worrying her lately. Something had clearly been bothering her over the last few weeks, but she's been completely quiet about it. It was so unlike her. Madoka use to come to her with every little thing that happened in her day, but lately Junko has had almost no insight into her daughter's life.
She sighed and walked over to Madoka's room, then tapped on her door and asked, "Madoka?"
"Come in." Madoka's voice responded. Junko entered and saw her sitting up in her bed with her phone in her hand, surrounded by stuffed animals.
"So you are awake." Junko said, coming in to sit next to her. "I thought you might have fallen asleep with the light on."
"No… Guess I'm just not really feeling sleepy yet." Madoka said, forcing a smile. It was clear something was on her mind. It's the same way she has been all month.
"So, what are you doing anyway?" Junko asked, glancing at the phone in Madoka's hands.
"I was just talking with Sayaka." Madoka said.
"Oh, about what?"
"Um…" Her eyes shifted for a moment before responding. "Something about Kyoko."
Junko frowned at the vague answer.
She had met Kyoko a few times, and wasn't too fond of her colorful vocabulary, but in spite of that, Junko she still liked her. She seemed like a nice and mostly honest girl... just a little misguided. She heard through Madoka that Kyoko had lost her family a couple years ago, so it wasn't really any wonder that she was a bit rough around the edges.
"Well anyway," Junko said, "Since neither of us can sleep, want to get a cup of tea in the kitchen?"
Madoka glanced at her phone, then back to her mom and smiled. "Sure, that sounds good."
Junko still didn't have any answers to what had happened to Homura, or why Madoka had been acting so strangely lately, but she had a feeling the two were connected. At first Junko thought that maybe they had broken up, and Madoka was having a hard time talking about it, but that didn't seem quite right. Firstly, they seemed way too close for that to be the case, it wouldn't make sense for such a sudden shift out of nowhere. Secondly, if it was a breakup, it would be more obvious and Madoka wouldn't be going on as if they were still together. Maybe Madoka could be a tad naive at times, but she wasn't the type to be in denial about a breakup.
Still, Junko wanted to get to the bottom of whatever it was, but any attempts to directly ask about Homura had been more or less brushed off. So, she tried coming at it with a different approach. "So how have Sayaka and Kyoko been doing lately anyway?"
"Fine. They were having some troubles when Sayaka's parents found out about them, but that seems to have resolved." Madoka laughed.
Junko remembered, Sayaka's parents certainly did NOT take well to the idea of Sayaka having a girlfriend. It's not that her parents were necessarily bad people, they were just the type to be stuck in their ways, and had trouble adjusting to anything that was outside of the ordinary. Unfortunately, it had gotten bad enough that Sayaka and Kyoko left their house and came to stay here for a couple days
During those couple days, Junko got to know Kyoko a little better and was able to find that she did like her. She realized Kyoko was aware of her speaking, and made an honest attempt to avoid slang words, but had a little trouble with breaking the habit. The roughness that Kyoko showed was really only on the surface, and it didn't take Junko long to see the girl underneath that rough exterior was actually a kind and gentle soul.
Sayaka's parents must have realized that as well, and also realized the error of their ways, because in the end they ended up being ok with Kyoko staying at their house. They tended to be away on business a lot anyway, and it was better for Sayaka to not be alone at home all the time.
"I remember when they came here those couple days. Those two were practically glued together. Are they still like that?" Junko laughed.
Madoka returned the laughter. "Yeah, they never stop bickering with eachother, but its really cute. I'm glad, because I can tell she's making Sayaka really happy too…" From what Junko understood, Sayaka had gotten a pretty bad episode of depression after having her heart broken by Kyosuke. Madoka had seemed really worried about it at the time, but it seemed that whole situation had resolved itself in the end.
That led Junko to thinking about Homura again, and since she had finally gotten Madoka talking, she decided to come right out with it. "So, how's Homura been? I haven't seen her in a while."
"Oh… Um… well…" Madoka frowned and stared at her teacup. This was actually an improvement, because before whenever Junko asked about Homura, Madoka would instantly start trying to assure her that everything was fine, even though it was obvious that was not the case. Now it seemed Madoka was finally closer to being able to talk about whatever it was.
"Is she alright?" Junko asked, softly.
"It's… well…"
Junko smiled, "Madoka, you know you can tell me anything, right?" She had her suspicions before, but now she was convinced there really was something going on with Homura. "Is she in trouble?"
Madoka's frown became somewhat more placid as she gathered her thoughts. "Well… Yes, but it's not that she did anything wrong." She explained.
"Madoka…" Junko said softly, "I'm worried. It's not like you not to talk to me about things."
Madoka instantly shook her head. "No mama, I don't want you to worry… it's just that…Well, it's hard to say, because I'm not sure it's something I can really talk about, but at the same time I don't want to lie to you."
"I see… well, where is she?"
"Actually…" Madoka managed to put on a smile again, and Junko could see that it was genuine. "She is going to be back very soon, probably even tomorrow… um, maybe she will be able to tell you about it herself then…"
"Oh." Junko returned the smile, "Well that's good to hear. So she really is ok?"
Madoka nodded. "Yeah, she wasn't for a little while… but it's going to be over soon. So, she really is going to be ok now!"
"Well, I still don't know what it is we are talking about exactly." Junko laughed, "But I do know Homura is a strong girl. So I think you're right, whatever it is I'm sure she can deal with it."
Madoka nodded in agreement, and their conversation hit a lull. The silence was broken after a moment by Madoka letting out a loud yawn and putting her hand over her mouth.
"Well, it is pretty late." Junko smiled, "Why don't we get to bed now?"
"Heh, yeah." Madoka said as she finished the last of her tea and got up from the table.
Junko sighed. At least she'd gotten somewhere this time, but it was clear that Madoka wasn't going to give her all the details. Still, the news that Homura was coming by tomorrow was reassuring. Homura was often silent and unforthcoming with information, but she was a practical girl who would know if she was in over her head. Whatever it was that Homura had gotten mixed up in, the answers could wait until tomorrow.
Homura was sure to keep Kotaro in her peripheral vision at all times. Her real worry would have been their tasers, which she had destroyed. The tasers were designed specifically to be used against her, and their amplified wattage was enough to contort her muscles and make it impossible for her to move or concentrate enough to use magic. Not to mention it hurt… really badly.
She wasn't as worried about a gunshot wound, because it could be easily healed, but getting shot still hurt pretty badly as well, and she preferred avoiding fleshwounds when she could. She didn't think Kotaro would be foolish enough to try anything like that, however.
The other guard, whose name she picked up was Furuhata, might have been more of a concern, but he was currently piggy backing the other unconscious guard. Kaiji carried Furuhata's gun for him, though admitted he would have no idea how to use it himself.
"So this witch thing." Kotaro said, following just a couple paces behind Homura. "We think it caught our friend Hiroshi." He was trying to avoid right out asking if Hiroshi was still alive or not.
Homura seemed to understand what the question was. "If that's the case, then he is likely dead." She answered factually, without much emotion in her voice.
"I see." Kotaro said. He didn't really know Hiroshi all that well. They were coworkers for a while, and they use to joke around in the break room a lot, but they couldn't exactly be considered close friends. Still, it was rough news to hear. Now wasn't the time for grief, however. He had a gun in his arms and he was heading for a battlefield, so he had to stay focused. "How did it get here anyway?" He asked.
Homura didn't answer right away, but Kotaro noticed Kaiji's posture shift through the corner of his eyes. It was clear that Kaiji, at least, knew the answer. Finally, Homura did answer. "I summoned it. Actually, it was only a matter of time before one came here anyway. Really, all I did was speed up the process. I won't go into details, but I'll just say it was inevitable that this would happen the moment you people locked me up. I tried to at least give you all a chance to evacuate the lab before it happened… but in the end, that didn't work out."
Furuhata spoke up with a cold voice. "So you're saying you did everything in your power to prevent this, but it just didn't work out? Huh? Sorry, but I have a hard time believing that. If you knew this was going to happen, you could have said something weeks ago, couldn't you have? That way our team may have been able to prepare more properly."
"I was kidnapped and imprisoned here against my will. I didn't want any of this. Besides, this witch is going to be the ticket to my escape. How smart would it have been for me to tell my jailors about the one thing that could lead to my escape? Just be grateful I'm trying to save your lives now. I don't need to do this… really, I only need one of you." She glanced backwards for just a moment, and it was clear she was referring to Kaiji.
"So, we're hostages then?" Furuhata said.
"I tried using my psychologist as a hostage before, but that didn't work. They were perfectly willing to sacrifice her to keep me locked up. It would probably be the same for you prison guards, I'm really only saving the three of you out of the kindness of my own heart. Kaiji on the other hand." She grinned, "With him, it seems my kind heart paid off for me by giving me a slightly more valuable bargaining chip. If we're lucky, though. None of that will be necessary."
"And how do we know you aren't just stringing us along?" Furuhata said, "Hiroshi said 'she would come back for us'. How do we know you are not who he was referring to and this is just an elaborate trap?"
"Feeding you to the witch would offer me no benefit. In fact, it would be just the opposite."
"How do we know that though?" Furuhata said, "We don't know anything about this. Like I said, you could just be stringing us along. Sorry, but I'm having a hard time believing you are sparing us just out of the kindness of your heart, as you put it."
"In truth, I really don't give a damn what happens to you. However, if I were to just let you die… well, there's someone who would have a hard time forgiving me for that if she ever found out. But to answer your question. You don't know. So you're just going to have to trust me, I guess."
Kaiji thought about what she said, and then asked. "Madoka Kaname?"
Homura stopped moving so suddenly that Kotaro ended up walking a few paces ahead of her before stopping himself. He turned to ask what was wrong, and could see a darkness had come over her face that went far beyond cool and intense. He instinctively shifted his feet into a more fire ready position, and his hands tightened their grip on his weapon.
In the blink of an eye, Homura disappeared, and reappeared using one hand to slam Kaiji against a wall. Her other hand held a pistol, and she jammed the barrel into his neck. "Homura!" Kotaro shouted, turning to point his gun at her. In turning, he realized it felt lighter. He looked down and saw that the clip had been removed. He reached for the spare magazine clipped to his belt, and found that was also missing. "Woah… ok now." Kotaro said calmly, "Just relax."
To Kaiji's credit, he didn't flinch. He didn't try to resist her attack, but he stared right back into her dark eyes bravely. She may have been a fourteen year old girl, and half his size, but it still took a certain kind of person to maintain their composure with a gun pressed against their neck.
"How do you know that name?" Homura said, slowly, as she lifted her thumb and pulled the hammer back on her gun.
"We've been aware of Madoka Kaname even before actually capturing you." Kaiji said to her. There was not so much as a hint of a stutter in his voice, and Kotaro found himself respecting him for that. "We ultimately deemed that she was no interest to us, and we have completely left her alone. You mentioned a girlfriend to Dr. Sakura. I just assumed..."
Homura pushed the gun into his neck even harder, forcing him to cough, but he maintained his eye contact.
"Listen, Homura." Kotaro started, "With the hammer back like that, that things a hair trigger… if you're not carfull..."
Homura ignored him and continued to speak to Kaiji. "There's something else you are not telling me." She spoke slowly. "You jumped to that conclusion far too easily."
Kaiji's eyes shifted slightly. "When you're sleeping." He said, swallowing. "You often say her name in your sleep… Then, when you mentioned a girlfriend to Kay… I assumed…"
Kotaro felt his respect for Kaiji waivering. Homura was being watched while she slept? She's only a teenager, and a girl! Something about that didn't quite sit right with his chivalrous nature. It seemed to be crossing the line just a bit. He quickly reaffirmed himself. She may have every right to be angry at her privacy being violated like that, but Dr. Kaiji still didn't deserve to die over it.
Homura's eyes narrowed even further. She stared at him hard, as if trying to look through a lie. When Kotaro looked at Kaiji, he could see it too… There was something else the doctor wasn't saying.
"You won't shoot." Kaiji said, calmly, still refusing to fold under her intense stare. "I'm your bargaining chip, remember? Besides, I don't think murdering in cold blood just for the sake of making a point is your style."
"Do you really want to test me on that?" Homura asked, tilting her head to the side very slightly.
"I'm willing to take the gamble."
They continued to stare eachother down for what felt like a long moment. Furuhata, piggybacking an unconscious guard, was helpless to do anything but watch. Maybe if he was fast enough, he could knock her out before she fired. Then, Homura pulled the gun away from his neck, and they both sighed with relief.
"You'd best just forget that name. If I find out that anyone so much as looks her name up in a phonebook, I'm going to come back. I will kill everyone involved with this lab, and I will destroy everything you personally hold dear. Do you understand that? Doctor Kaiji." Kaiji didn't say anything, but nodded his head in understanding. "Good."
Homura turned away, and continued down the hall. She reached under her shield to receive the magazine she had stolen, and tossed it in Kotaro's direction. Kotaro snatched it out of the air, but didn't reload his weapon right away.
"Don't do anything stupid with that." Homura said as she continued to walk with her back still facing him. "It doesn't matter how good of a shot you are. You will not win against me."
"Riiiight." Kotaro said, as he slid the clip into place. Then he looked over to Furuhata and Kaiji, unable to help a slight grin on his face. "Well, that was intense." Kotaro was the first to continue following her, then the other two tailed close behind him, but they all kept more than just a few paces worth of distance from her this time.
"It's close." Homura said. "Be prepared."
"Wait a minute? It's still not over yet? Atomyst! YOU LIED TO US!" - All the fans, April 2016
Don't worry, I just decided to split this into yet another chapter. Again. BUT DON'T WORRY! You won't be waiting 3 weeks for it this time. Just 1 week. I promise. My goal is to have the final chapter out on the 15th… the 18th at the ABSOLUTE latest, but that's just to give me a buffer zone.
The actual escape plan is turning out to take much longer to resolve than I thought it would. In my head it was like "Ok, introduce the guards, have them shoot at some spiders, some stuff with Homura, bad-da-bing, fight the witch aaaand finale."... The actual reality of it obviously doesn't look anything like that. Perhaps I underestimated how many words a proper action sequence takes, or how long it would take to properly build suspense and describe the labyrinth, and get to the points I wanted to get to in the dialog. Plus thinking to add a few things along the way. Since there's a good bit of those things here, I ended up with a chapter about 3X longer than I originally planned. Keep in mind these last 2 (and soon 3) chapters were originally all meant to be just one. (Fun Facts From Axius: TSO:Ransom was only suppose to be 2-3 thousand words long, not over 14,000! BTW If you haven't read it yet, go do that *thumbsup*)
Anyway, let's move a little further ahead as far as future plans go.
First, as you know, I'm considering the conclusion of the escape plan the end of part 1. After that, there will be (I want to say 2) flashback chapters, which will explain more thoroughly how Homura ended up here in the first place, as well as all of the other character's histories within this timeline. There's some things that have been hinted at, but not really expanded on thus far. Then, I'm guessing part 2 will be 10-15 chapters. I'd like for this story to be right around 300,000 words when all is said and done, but based on my recent performance with this 'last chapter' it may go over that (maybe a good deal over that).
Also, I want to get back to working on perfect crime. You can check my profile for more details on my plans for dealing with that.
Also in my profile, I want to start keeping track of my progress with which stories I'm working on, as well as an estimated ETA for new chapters. This is something new for me, so it's a bit of an experiment, but I'll try to update those ETA and progress reports daily so readers are not left twiddling their thumbs wondering when the next update is going to pop.
Hm, and I guess that is all that needs to be said for now.
As always, thank you to all the readers/reviewers/and followers!
-Atomyst
