Read or Dare
Chapter 25
Nenene Symerigawa was on a roll, her fingers flying over the keyboard. She knew to seize such times, because inspiration could be fleeting. Some days (especially after Yomiko had vanished on her) she had barely written at all.
"GO AWAY," Nenene called as someone knocked.
Maggie ignored that, the taller woman entering with a plate and glass. "You need to eat, Sensei," she said as she put them down by Nenene.
Nenene looked at the sandwiches, then her stomach rumbled loudly.
Maggie smiled, "I'll come back later and get the dishes."
"Thanks," Nenene sighed.
Nenene ate a sandwich one handed, typing with the other. Luckily Maggie hadn't stayed or she'd scold her...
Nenene kept writing a few hours, even as the sun set outside the window.
"Sensei!" Michelle called as she looked into the room.
"Augh," Nenene groaned as she sat back, realizing that she was crouched WAY over, peering at the screen.
"Time for dinner," Michelle said disapprovingly.
Nenene took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, "Just let me finish this bit..."
"No, dinner will get cold," Michelle said firmly. "Maggie!"
"Sorry, Sensei," Maggie walked up and bodilly lifted Nenene out of her chair.
"Hey!" Nenene yelped.
"We'll have dinner, then you can write a little more," Michelle said as they went to the suite's dining room.
"Yeah yeah," Nenene pouted.
Anita was dishing up their food as she added, "And turn the lights on in there too. Keep it up and you'll get eye strain."
Nenene sighed as she began to eat. Having the three fuss over her could be annoying at times... but it was kind of nice too.
"No reading at the table," Anita added as Michelle was covertly reading and eating at the same time.
"Don't be cruel, Anita," Michelle pouted.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"All right, start her up!"
The squat, vaguely humanoid mecha walked a bit jerkily, but still crossed the testing grounds.
"Wisner! Straighten it out!"
Dan grunted as he worked the controls. "This is harder than it looks!" he answered.
Kelly Miles was monitoring the systems via a synched tablet. "Everything reads green so far," she reported.
Adam Smith noted. "My turn driving it, next!"
"You'll get your chance," Koyomi said.
Dan maneuvered around the open area, then parked it safely beside where they stood. The back of the mecha opened up, and Dan clambered out, stretching.
"Argh, that hurts the back," Dan muttered.
"You're just too tall," Kelly said, amused.
"I'm VERY suspicious that they're actually only designed for short women," Dan noted, shaking his head.
"Heh," Kiyomi looked amused. "Issues?" she asked him.
"The controls really need a lot of muscle," Dan admitted. "I know it's sort of deliberate, but it'll make things hard in an emergency."
Adam noted, "Like we'd have that happen."
Dan, Kelly and Kiyomi exchanged a glance. All three had been getting a certain vibe from their teacher that SOMETHING was coming. What, was hard to say.
"All right, you're up," Dan nodded to Adam. "Don't crash it."
"I won't," Adam climbed in.
"Who wants to tell him the arms are designed to hold weapons?" Kelly asked once he started the mech walking.
"Not it," Dan sighed.
"Chicken," Kiyomi noted mildly.
"Damn right," Dan agreed mildly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Taichi Hiraga-Keaton was leading another trip into the tunnels under the island.
"Do we HAVE to use the cliff enterance?" Revy bitched as they used ropes to get to the opening. Her, Hicks, Shane and Keaton were making the trip.
"I want to see this route," Keaton noted calmly.
All four of them entered the (apparently) natural opening, then followed the stream up the tunnel. "You think this was always like this...?" Shane wondered.
"Hard to say. The section near the cliffs looks natural, but the deeper we go the more constructed the tunnel looks," Keaton said.
They reached the intersection, then headed towards where the Lab was. As they walked, the sea smell was gradually replaced by the scent of chemicals.
"Me and Hicks should go in first," Revy noted as they neared the lab, "just in case."
"Fair enough," Keaton noted.
They entered the lab, Shane taking in the machines and huge tanks that contained floating... things. It was the same as last time, though something bugged him. He passed a counter, with a few tools sitting there, and frowned.
"What?" Hicks asked.
"Balalaika's having troops patrol down here, right?" Shane asked. When Hicks nodded he asked, "Are you guys cleaning up after yourselves?"
Hicks frowned, "No."
Shane touched a took on a bench, "So why is there NO dust on anything?"
"Shit," Revy blinked, looking around.
"All surfaces are pretty much spotless," Keaton confirmed as they looked around. "Very odd."
Hicks looked at Keaton, "Is this normal?"
"Very much no. Usually the only time you'd find a site this clean would be a sealed tomb," Keaton replied calmly.
"Fuuuuck," Hicks sighed.
Keaton moved over to the huge tanks, "So, something was alive in one of these?"
"Yeah. We disturbed it, it busted out then we beat it to death," Revy noted.
"What happened to the damaged tank?" Keaton wondered.
"Balalaika had it taken out, to be studied," Hicks noted.
"Learn anything?" Shane asked curiously.
"Nope," Revy shook her head. "Whatever was in those tubes is pretty damn funky."
Shane suspected they had found something, but didn't press.
Keaton peered at one of the tanks, the thing within it hanging there. It was hard to tell what it was, but it looked... vaguely inhuman.
"Don't tap on them," Revy added. "I do NOT want to kill another one of those things."
Keaton nodded, then walked around the chamber thoughtfully. "Have anyone brought in ground penetrating radar and such?" he asked.
"Something about the ground doesn't like it," Hicks shrugged.
"Curiouser and curiouser," Keaton muttered.
"Let's see," Shane took out a compass. Unlike last time, it worked perfectly fine...
"So why did it fuck up last time, but not now?" Revy asked, scowling.
"Hell if I know," Shane shrugged.
"Radios are working too," Hicks noted.
"Da fuq?" Revy shook her head. "Keaton?"
"No idea," Keaton admitted. "Maybe the other section of tunnels really is a entirely seperate thing." he mused.
"Fuck. That's all we need," Revy sighed.
No one there really wanted to argue with that.
"There's another lab like this up the tunnel," Hicks said after a moment.
"Let's take a look," Keaton agreed.
"Oh joy," Shane sighed.
To be continued...
Read or Dare!
Chapter 26
Rin Asogi and Revy were back to back as the attacking goons swarmed them.
"FUCK!" Revy yelled, twin pistols blazing.
"Come on, then," Rin yelled, using a shotgun to blast another creature away.
"Think rescue will reach us?" Revy said as she shot another one.
"Damn if I know," Rin answered grimly.
Rin knew that with her weird immortality, she at least would survive this. Revy, on the other hand, was a normal if exceptional woman. If these... THINGS got her, she'd die. Horribly.
"Try to break out," Rin ordered, "I'll cover you."
"No fucking way!" Revy yelled.
"I can't die, remember?" Rin reminded her.
"I don't believe that bullshit story, remember?" Revy shot back.
Fuck. Rin remembered that they both had been pretty drunk when she had told her, at that...
"What the hell is THAT," Revy blurted.
Rin looked and blinked. Two squat, humanoid MECHA were advancing, each waving what looked like scaled up katanas. And basically rendering the attackers to fucking paste.
"We aren't hallucinating?" Rin had to ask.
"I'm seeing it too. Fuck," Revy muttered.
The attacking wave of monsters soon trickled to a halt, leaving them surrounded by monster corpses and rubble. The Purple mech popped open the back hatch, and a striking looking young redhead emerged.
"Well THAT was fun," Kelly Miles noted. "You ok?"
"What the fuck happened?" Revy had to ask.
"Localized youma break out from the tunnels. Mostly contained to this area, so far no casualties reported," Kelly replied.
"What I want to know is where your mecha came from," Rin had to asked.
"Shop class," the other pilot deadpanned.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"WE HAVE TO EVACUATE THE ISLAND! NOW!" the lead governor of the island demanded hysterically.
"How?" Balalaika answered him calmly.
"What?" another man, the Dean, asked.
"We don't have the lift capacity to evacuate more than a small number of students," Balalaika responded flatly, "either by boat or plane."
"Oh," the governor said weakly.
"And how would we determine who goes? Roll dice?" Balalaika added dryly.
"There must be some," the Dean started.
"I was also disappointed to see several wealthy residents flee the islands on their private vessels," Balalaika said, "ships that could have been used to evacuate students." She looked at the govenor levelly, "Several were your associates, I understand."
The men and women crowding her office visibly deflated.
"We are doing everything we can to protect the people on the islands," Balalaika said calmly, "and if resources become to available to evacuate, we'll do so."
Once they all walked out, Rock entered her office.
"Well, that was pleasant," Balalaika sighed.
Rock knew what she was thinking as he said, "It's not your fault."
"I was warned SOMETHING dangerous was under the island. I should have taken more steps," Balalaika shook her head grimly.
"There was no way to get enough boats and planes together on short notice to clear the island," Rock shook his head.
"I also have to thank Revy and Mr Llewellyn," Balalaika mused thoughtfully, "their organizing the... powered individuals to defend the island may have saved us."
"I want to know how he KNEW about all these people," Rock frowned.
"We're going to have to have a talk with him and his associates, once this is over," Balalaika agreed thoughtfully.
"Hmm," Rock agreed.
"Casualties?" Balalaika had to ask.
"Twelve. Mostly from a group of teachers who delayed an attacking group of youma to save some students," Rock sighed.
"Fuck," Balalaika sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
With a gesture, Shane slammed a giant wall of pure paper down on a group of youma, squishing them all flat.
"I'm impressed," Taichi Hiraga-Keaton noted, using a rifle to put down youma with surprising precision.
Shane was also impressed, though he didn't SAY that. He had known Keaton was a former British SAS, but hadn't really realized how good that meant he was.
"I think the youma have stopped, for now," Keaton noted.
"Looks like it," Shane sighed then pulled his phone out.
Keaton raised an eyebrow, "Is this the time..?"
"Yes it is," Shane bit out and dialed.
The phone rang, then, "FUCK. Shane. You're alive?"
"I've never been happier to hear random swearing," Shane sighed. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. Things are fucked up all over, though," Revy noted. She paused, "What's this I hear about you being a 'paper master?'"
"It's a long story," Shane sighed. "I promise to go into it once we get back together."
"You better. Stay alive, damn it," then Revy hung up.
"Come on, let's get the kids we rescued back to the library," Keaton suggested.
As expected of a librarian, they had fgallen back to the main Library building on the facility. It was well built, had only one entrance to guard, and could shelter a lot of people if they were willing to fit. Plus, books.
"Shane-dono!" Maggie Mui waved, the tall woman guarding the front. "Everything's fine, other than Sensei getting cranky."
"Right," Shane nodded, "I'll change shifts once we escort these kids in."
"Okay you kids, settle down," Nenene Sumerigawa ordered, havcing taken charge almost automatically. It helped that she, Maggie, Michelle and Anita had helped with earlier rescues.
"Sensei, everything okay?" Shane checked.
"We're fine," Nenene said loudly. Once she got near she dropped her voice, "Food is going to be a issue pretty soon, though."
"I figure Balalaika will get something organized soon," Shane noted.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"FUCK," Dutch cursed as Benny went down under a youma. There was a splurt of blood as it ripped into him, then Dutch blasted it with a shotgun.
Benny gurgled softly, looking at him in confusion, then shuddered and died.
"Goddamn it!" Dutch roared, firing away at the attacking monsters.
'Why the hell did I have to decide to go into town?' Dutch thought angrilly, 'I could have been safe on my boat!'
As Dutch retreated he fired his pistol, then scrambled to reload the shotgun.
"Raaagh," one of the monsters hissed as it charged.
A burst of sub-machine gun fire exploded the thing's head, then two figures charged, attacking the youma from behind. There was a black haired lady using the guns, and a brown haired woman... using PAPER to cut monsters to ribbons?
"You Dutch?" the machine gun woman asked.
"Yeah," Dutch shot another youma, relieved to see the numbers dwindling.
"Revy sent us," the other woman noted. She added, "Where's Benny?"
Dutch could feel his face just... shut down. "He didn't make it," he said flatly.
"I'm sorry," the first woman said. "We're getting the survivors together... if you're good with weapons, we'll need you."
"I could kill these things all day," Dutch said bleakly.
"I'm Yomiko, that's Nancy," Yomiko said, "let's go."
To be continued...
Notes: I've been teasing the monster attack, finally decided to do it. Still need to decide who else is dying...