So I had another one of those wonderful ideas that you guys tend to love. This time? A Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Deadman Wonderland crossover. Why? Well there's a couple of reasons for it. First and foremost is the stealth element that DX has that you can willingly choose to play with or completely ignore. In fact, in both Human Revolution and Mankind Divided they reward you with more experience for taking enemies out non-lethally and finding a way to sneak around them without alerting them. I don't know about the previous two games on PC, but I assume that they used a similar method where you're rewarded more by taking a non-lethal route versus a "genocide run". In fact, in both games there's a very high valued achievement and trophy that are worth a lot of points in both games giving an incentive for achievement and trophy hunters to not kill anyone. Going off on tangents aside, what is Deadman all about?
It's about a secret, shady organization funded by wealthy individuals who want to see "augmented", as in people who are augmented by blood-based abilities that make them superhuman that some shady organization wants to not only exploit for unknown reasons (in the anime) but also sell their fighting to their investors for more money which funds the private prison that they're all located inside of secretly. If you know Deus Ex, then you know it's all about the Illuminati and how they're trying to control the world. In the first two games it's all about this virus called Gray Death that kills off those that the organization deem unworthy of continuing. The newer games are about how they're trying to control the populace through Augmentations. So you can see why I went with this idea. You know, shady people hiding behind proxy soldiers and organizations for their own selfish reasons.
So where does this take place in both stories respectively? In Deadman this story takes place shortly after the sham trial that Ganta goes through. As for DX it takes place right after the end credits of Mankind Divided. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum for Mankind, but Human Revolution's fair game as it came out years ago and I want to use the choices I made from HR that honestly should have made an appearance to make each player's experience unique as I did save Malek in the second journey to Hengsha. I will mention personal choices I made inside the missions for MD, but I will try to keep the big spoilers low key as I really think it was a very enjoyable game.
So what exactly is going to be spoiled? Well… (HR = Human Revolution, MD = Mankind Divided)
HR Unlisted Side Mission "Good Soul"
HR Side Mission "Shanghai Justice" with the "Super Sleuth" achievement/trophy option
HR Side Mission "Talion AD"
HR Missing Link DLC "All of the Above"
MD Side Mission "01011000"
MD Side Mission "Fresh Out of the Package"
MD Side Mission "K is for Kazdy"
MD "Spokes in Two Wheels" achievement/trophy mission option
Rating: T+ - M due to some violent content or visualizations. As I don't intend to have any intention to have any sexual content, like there is inside of insinuation inside of Deadman Wonderland and some indirect context related content in Deus Ex, this won't be a problem in this fic.
Disclaimers: I own nothing other than my laptop and my copy of MS Word. The Deus Ex franchise belongs to Square Enix and Eidos. Deadman Wonderland belongs to Jinsei Kataoka, Kazuma Kondou, and Viz Media. See the foreword for the rest of the disclaimers.
Fun fact: This used to be a Metal Gear/Crysis/Deadman Wonderland crossover, but now it's not.
XxXxXxX
"Talking."
'Thinking.'
"Communication over a radio/telephone."
"Communication over an intercom/TV."
XxXxXxX
Adam's apartment, Prague. Six months after Marchenko's arrest.
It had been six months since Marchenko was arrested by TF29 with the assistance of Adam Jensen. Life had returned to normal for the citizens of Prague, for the most part. Augs were still looked down upon and suspected for even the smallest of crimes. Did someone steal a wallet? An Aug did it. Someone stole your life savings and used said savings to buy a lifetime subscription to a niche porn site? It was an Aug. Even Adam, a member of Interpol, was not beyond suspicion, although the people that worked with him on a daily basis and knew his character knew otherwise. Due to Jim Miller getting killed by the Orchid poison there was now a new director of TF29 and thanks to Adam's efforts in preventing the entire mass poisoning of the pro-aug politicians he was given his own office like when he had been the head of security for Sarif. Even though he knew that TF29 was more than likely an Illuminati front, he still spent countless nights sleeping on his couch rather than making the trip back to this apartment.
Due to his actions in Detroit, Hengsha, and now Prague he had amassed quite a few allies and contacts. One of the biggest public allies he had obtained was Nathan Brown when he had kept him and the rest of the UN Security Council from drinking the Orchid poison, giving both Adam and augs alike an ally to block the Human Restoration Act. His largest shadow ally was the ever illusive Janus. Adam knew very little about him other than he opposes the Illuminati, he leads the Juggernaut Collective and is friends of a sort with Alex Vega. He also had a friend in the form of an AI that survived Panchea who helped him from time to time, like during the lockdown in Prague six months ago. He had a few others that he could depend on that he had done favors for in the past, like when he was in Detroit, should he call in a marker from people that 'owed him one'. He didn't like to think of people that way, however, he did have to admit that some people have skills that he just didn't have the aptitude for.
Adam sat in his apartment drinking a glass of whiskey, a gift from Prichard when he assisted him recently and smoked a cigarette sitting on his couch. After all, there wasn't any work at the moment from the office. However, he did some odd jobs from time to time to keep himself busy.
While thinking about what he was going to do for the day, other than getting drunk even if his augs could clean out both carcinogen and alcohol out of his system faster than he could naturally, his TV activated on it appeared the avatar of Janus.
"Adam," he greeted.
"Janus," Adam greeted in turn. "Isn't it a little dangerous to contact me here?"
"In most circumstances, yes; however, I have taken precautions as to prevent myself from being tracked. There's been an interesting case over in Nagano Prefecture in Japan, a horrendous slaughter occurred as a middle school class was killed off, all except for one student named Ganta Igarashi."
"So a kid went postal, it's sad but it happens," Adam dismissively said as he took a drink.
"Yes, it does. But does the same postal kid claim innocence and during the trial that takes place a day after the crime with a guilty verdict decided in less than two minutes?"
Adam paused for a moment. "That's odd."
"Unbelievably so. And to add even more oddities to the mix he was sentenced to death while serving time at the private prison Deadman Wonderland."
"The same prison that lobbied the Japanese government to allow deadly games that can kill the inmates, some of which are there for blue collar crimes, and dodges the UN council on humane actions on a constant basis?"
"The same. The Juggernaut Collective has uncovered abnormal cyber traffic headed towards the prison during off hours, and as they don't have access to streaming websites it doesn't explain why they have massive traffic when the 'park' is closed. We want you to investigate."
"Oh yeah, sounds real simple. And how am I going to get there? Magic?" Adam joked. "A better question is why the Juggernaut Collective is interested in this?"
"We believe that the Illuminati are trying to create bioweapons and testing them below the prison."
"Why do you think that?"
"We have access to the child's testimony. He claimed to see a 'Red Man' who floated outside the school window right before his class was slaughtered. The carnage was too much for any kid to pull off alone, especially a non-aug at that, without anyone attempting to stop him. We have contacted an old friend of yours who was willing to take you to Japan, so long as fuel was paid for. Malek, if we are not mistaken."
"Will I be able to take any weapons?"
"Due to the strict laws surrounding the country, if you can sneak it in then yes. We have no idea if your Interpol clearance will allow you permission to carry or not. So it would be advised to primarily rely on small arms and your augs even if Miss Malek could smuggle in larger weapons it would be much harder to go about without them being noticed."
Adam considered his options, after all, he had nothing better to do. And hurting a possible Illuminati operation as well as getting a kid who may be innocent off the hook of multiple homicides? "Count me in. When do I leave?"
"Midnight, you'll get there by morning."
XxXxXxX
Nagano Prefecture Middle School. 8am.
Adam stepped onto the property dressed in the trench coat that many people that knew him called his 'signature look' that the middle school stood on and the first thing that he saw was the fact that from the street he could see the carnage that either the kid or the Red Man caused. It looked like someone blew it up with explosives, although he could tell that it wasn't due to the localized damage that was contained to the one singular classroom itself.
Adam walked right onto the property but was stopped as a burly man wearing a track suit used his arm to block him from going any further. "What's your business here, gaijin?" he asked with more hostility than needed.
With a single thought he brought up his CASIE augmentation and his HUD showed him everything about the man based on his body language. He had hypertension, understandable given the circumstances that the school had gone through the last two weeks. He looked like he was about to have an aneurysm if not a stroke was in his future if he didn't lighten up soon. "I'm a private investigator. A case came across my desk involving what… happened here recently," Adam replied.
"You mean that murderer brat? He got what he deserved," he puffed.
Adam crossed his arms, "Do you really think a kid could cause that kind of localized damage without something like a bomb, and if that is the case why was so the carnage centralized in one classroom and one classroom only with him as the only survivor? The only weapons that could cause that is military hardware. Do you really think the kid snuck onto a military base and stole experimental hardware just to kill his class?"
"And what would make you an expert, gaijin?" the teacher asked, his hands on his hips.
"I'm a retired cop, former member of SWAT, and a former chief of security for Sarif Industries. Trust me, I know my stuff. This kid didn't do what everyone says he did," Adam pressed. He activated the pheromones from his aug, "Don't you think that it was a bit odd that the trial he had gone along a bit too quickly? And how about the defense lawyer that was supposed to defend him turning on him mid-trial?"
The aug was having an effect on him as he calmed down and thought clearly for a moment. "That makes sense for some reason." As soon as the clarity came, it left. "I can't let you be poking around there, Yankee. It's still a crime scene and the police don't want anyone poking around because of structural integrity or something; we had to move the kids in the classroom and above and below the classroom into the gym until a construction company can come in and fix the damage."
"So the classroom hasn't been altered in any way?" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Other than what the police took in their investigation, no." Seeing where Adam was going with this the teacher then started to backpedal, "No, I know what you're thinking, no."
"Come on. Say this kid is innocent, don't you want to see justice done?"
"Haven't the families that had their children taken been through enough? They shouldn't be dragged into another investigation that will last rip open recently closed wounds." Adam was going to use his CASIE aug to force his way in but the teacher shook his head, "I'll take you to the room, but I better not catch any flack for this."
"It will be as if I wasn't even here."
The teacher gave him a look of uncertainty but allowed Adam in regardless. They walked into the school and up the stairs to the classroom itself. Several students looked at Adam a bit strangely as they looked through the windows and doors as they tried to guess why a foreigner was there. They approached the classroom and it was both taped off with yellow police tape as well as an electric lock. "They added that to keep the kids out. We have a few kids that are into the occult and séances so it keeps them out too," the teacher explained.
"That won't be a problem," Adam replied as he activated his Remote Hacking aug and quickly unlocked the door. "Open says me." Adam walked inside immediately after it unlocked not seeing the teacher's look of surprise as he didn't notice the obvious augmentations that he had. "Would you mind keeping an eye out, I'll be done shortly?"
"Y-yeah, sure. Take your time."
Adam looked around the crime scene that was still stained with the blood of the children killed earlier. Glass was strewn everywhere; he couldn't take a step without cracking more glass as he stepped on it. Desks were turned towards the wall that the hallway was located at. The blood spatter and spray directionality all came from a primarily central point that radiated away from the outside of the building itself. Adam activated software that he had been given by Interpol to start cataloging the visual data that he saw; the software highlighting bodily fluids, debris, and other evidence that would be used in reconstructing bombs to figure out who made them to further investigate what happened. He finally walked over to where Ganta was found after the attack and saw that where he was a void in the blood, but all directionality traced back once more outside.
The augmented reality software got all of the prompts it needed and began to virtually reconstruct the crime scene to look like it was just moments before the attack. He pressed play and saw everything in slow motion. A human analog was placed outside colored red, Ganta colored green, and the rest of the victims colored in blue. Something entered the building from the rear of the classroom and swept across the room until it reached the front of the room, killing anyone who stood up. Then whatever weapon it was then began to kill indiscriminately in a kind of wave pattern before it stopped. Adam had no idea what kind of weapon could cause this kind of devastation and little outside collateral damage. He originally thought it was a Typhoon, but he had the only prototype that Sarif had so it couldn't be that. The weapon had to be strong, yet malleable to punch through metal and glass alike and rip away the side of a building and be able to kill in a wave-like pattern. The only thing that made sense to him was a liquid metal controlled by electromagnets. A better question entered Adam's mind, why target a classroom full of children instead of heads of state or other influencing bodies?
Adam, now filled with more questions than answers, left the room and closed and locked the door behind him. "So did you find the answers you were looking for?" the teacher asked.
Adam pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a puff. "I have more questions than answers but I can tell you this, the kid was framed," Adam replied.
XxXxXxX
Deadman Wonderland. 12pm.
Adam jumped on the soonest train he could to Tokyo to get to Ground Zero of the 'Event', a bizarre chain of very well covered up events that left the now dubbed 'old town' borderline uninhabitable at the furthest rings. No one knew what happened. International news listed it as an asteroid strike while others listed it as a power plant that went and had a full-on meltdown by some terrorist group. Both of the reasons sounded beyond unbelievable but people went on with their daily lives. The private prison cum theme park 'Deadman Wonderland' was based too close to ground zero and connected only by a single suspension bridge to be considered suspicious. As far as locations went it was a smart move as it would be easy to pick off and pick up prisoners as they would either have to pull a repeat of the famous Alcatraz escape or swim to shore.
There were two things that rubbed him wrong from a human rights perspective as the prisoners, primarily those on Death Row were injected with a highly potent poison that took three days to kill and the only way to avoid dying was to ingest candy-like antidote that would only prolong the suffering. The second was the demeaning and highly deadly 'games' that the prisoners competed in for in-prison money. The concept of private prisons was not a new thing as they had been around in the US for quite a while, but this was a blatant violation of human rights.
After getting off the train he made his way to the park's outer gate which was visitor entrance where visitors purchased tickets and parked on the shore. Then the visitors were then taken to the island prison via bus to the inner gate where the park was. Adam didn't need to be told that he needed to leave his external weapons at home (or in this case with Malek) as there were armed guards with machine guns and sniper rifles, something that while he could deal with wasn't something that he wanted to deal with today. Luckily Sarif had him outfitted with the best SpecOps augs that appeared normal on scans but we're anything but, and if shit hit the fan he could take care of it. He had done it before.
He walked up to the kiosk where a woman dressed in a uniform sat, based on the fact that she didn't have a collar on he was willing to bet she was either a civilian working a day job or one of the guards on a non-patrol shift. She looked at him with a slightly suspicious eye and saw that Adam's eyes were cybernetic in nature as his sunglasses were pulled back. "How may I help you today, sir?" she asked with slight condescending on the 'sir'.
"Adult admission for one as well as being able to visit with one of the prisoners," Adam replied.
"May I ask the reason why for your visit, and who the prisoner you wish to speak with is?" she asked as she typed away on her keyboard.
"I'm a private investigator working on a case that requires some information this inmate knows. As for the name, I'd rather not say it aloud." Adam pushed a small slip of paper under the teller window.
The woman's eyes widened as she read the paper. "That-?"
"Now you can see why I didn't wish to say his name aloud. I assume this won't be a problem?"
She stammered as she asked, "Why him?"
"Sorry, client confidentiality clause in all my contracts. Gotta stay in business somehow."
She typed in her computer and began to become more frustrated as the minutes. Eventually, she gave up. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't seem to find him." Adam discreetly activated his Remote Hacking aug and saw on his HUD that she was not lying. "I'm pretty sure it's just a glitch in the system. Why don't you enjoy the park's entertainment and when we find him we'll send you his way?"
Adam raised an eyebrow but relented as he now had rudimentary access to the theme parks schematics as well as basic tracking thanks to the woman's login information. "Thank you."
"Do you have a number that we can call?" Adam gave her the number of a burner phone that Janus had given Malek to give to Adam. "Thank you, we'll call you as soon as we figure this glitch out. And thank you for visiting Deadman Wonderland!"
Adam walked through the security station which lit up as he walked through because of his augmentations. After explaining that he had lost both his arms in a terrorist attack and were completely replaced with cybernetic prosthetics. That must've hit home with one of the security guards because she let Adam through without any further scans. He then went to the bus terminal where other visitors, including young children, bounced uncontrollably in their seats in anticipation of what the park had to offer in entertainment.
As the bus got moving Adam had some time to think. Japan was one of the few countries that were not oppressive to augs unlike other places, like Prague for example. Japan was always the leader in idealistic societal norm changes. It stemmed from influences in the pop culture of the past which gave them even more confidence in their paths with the likes of Ghost in the Shell, Ergo Proxy, and many other titles. In Adam's opinion this made the country much more accepting of augs as a whole, but even they were not spared from the events that happened on Panchea. Adam didn't know why they were so accepting of augs while the rest of the world feared them thanks to the Illuminati's control over three media. Adam didn't have much time to think on it further as the bus arrived at the 'theme park' itself. The bus stopped and as Adam stepped off the bus he activated his sunglasses which snapped right into place.
He began to walk through the park, looking at every little thing he could see and catalog for later. He could see white and blue collar criminals working the concession stands and carnival games; he could tell because they didn't have a timer on their tracking collars that administered the lethal 'three day' poison administered regularly to those on death row in the prison. Behind these stands, he could see fences that hid things behind it. Adam activated his electromagnetic sight Aug and saw the outlines of something ferric, a grate, covering fans that circulated air underground. He made a waypoint note on it for later investigation.
Adam walked further into the park until he reached the center of what could be considered live entertainment in the park, the arena. Based on the information he was given in the brochure it was a daily live event where death row inmates participated in almost always lethal entertainment for the paying public. He had decided before even arriving here to see one just to get an idea of the mindset of the warden as he sanctioned these events and, if his information was correct, approved and planned each of them.
He walked into the arena and stood near the upper portions of the bleachers and stood to watch the event. Adam looked on to the arena with a skeptical eye; something was off about it. The cutesy looking décor, the happy music; it seemed out of place. What brought him back to the fact that this was a prison was the shatterproof glass wall that had to be at least twenty feet high as well as the very blatant guard towers with guards armed with automatic weapons inside them. There was a jumbotron that had the words 'The main show starts in:' followed by sixty seconds written in Japanese.
Adam stood in silence as the numbers counted down until there were ten seconds left and every patron that was in the stands, which were completely packed, counted down from ten to zero. When the timer reached zero the words on the screen disappeared and what replaced it was what Adam thought was the slimiest looking man in the world looked like while dressed in a white suit and carrying a cane whose head was that of the park's emblem.
As the man only spoke Japanese, Adam's augs translated the man's speech and displayed it on his augmented reality HUD. "Ladies, gentlemen, children of all ages! I, Tsunenaga Tamaki, welcome you to Deadman Wonderland's main attraction!" he said, to which caused the audience, except Adam, to cheer. "Joining us today for your entertainment is the F Block inmates; you know them better as death row! Why don't we give them a nice round of 'applause', shall we?" With that everyone in the audience booed as the inmates walked into the arena wearing numbers that you would see Olympic athletes wearing when competing over their prison uniform. "Inmates, take your marks!" the man ordered. They obeyed and took their places in corrals that didn't look any different than old, reused horse racing stalls. "On your marks. Get set. Go!"
The prisoners ran out of the gate and Adam watched in silent horror as several were killed by hidden traps, and the crowd cheered. Even the children who couldn't be any older than five or six were cheering at the prisoners' suffering and death. Adam knew that Japan, and the Far East as a whole, have a different set of moral values than the rest of the world (as it would explain the hell out of tentacle rape hentai), but this? This was something completely different.
It didn't take long until the 'race' was over. In the end over twenty prisoners lay dead on the course while two fought to the death leaving one the winner getting some prize that only really mattered in the prison itself. The crowds started to disperse from the arena and Adam was just disgusted. However, it did show something telling about the warden: he was a sadistic, slimy bastard, that much was for certain.
Adam was going to move on in an attempt to seek more information about the facility when his burner phone rang. "Jenson," he answered.
"Mr. Jenson? This is the guest relations desk at Deadman Wonderland," a woman responded. "I am calling in reference to your request for a meeting with inmate Ganta Igarashi which cannot be processed at this time."
"Is there a reason why?" Adam asked as he side-stepped a mascot.
"This came from the corporate levels. I'm sorry, but I am not privy to that kind of information."
"Would it be possible to speak with one of his inmates?" Adam asked hopefully. It would be an opportunity to get a closer look at the structure of the prison itself if not getting him close enough to a computer to hack the building's blueprints off of it.
"That would be possible, one moment." A minute passed before the woman came back on. "Your request to speak to Igarashi's cellmate, Yō Takami has been approved. Please report to the main administration building and state your name, they'll take you to him."
Adam disconnected the call and immediately left for the main administration building. After he walked into said building and identified himself he was immediately searched for contraband, to which they found none. He was then led to a visitor's center where there were booths of civilians on one side of the bulletproof glass and a telephone and inmates on the other. He even saw one woman pressing her bare breasts against the glass while the man on the other side, whom Adam assumed was her lover or significant other, watched with rapt attention. He sat down in an empty booth and waited an exceptionally long time.
However, after waiting a whole half hour his replacement interviewee arrived and with a guard escort who sat him down roughly in the chair and was told to 'behave.' He picked up the phone and Adam asked, "You speak English?"
"Moderately well," Yō replied in understandable, highly accented English.
"Good. That will make things easier."
"Why did you want to talk to me?"
"I want to talk about your cellmate, Ganta Igarashi."
"What about him?"
"Has he ever shown any psychopathic tendencies? You know, the kind that gets a jury to convict you in less than five minutes of deliberations, the kind that makes your own defense lawyer turn on you?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. He's quiet, but I don't know if it's the shy and innocent kind or the dark and maniacal kind of quiet."
"Do you know what happened to him?"
Adam's CASIE aug noted a heightened level of awareness. "He got transferred," replied Yō. The aug noted that it was a deceptive, fragile truth and not the full truth.
"Do you know where?"
"No." Immediately the young man's heart rate shot up and his breathing increased signifying that this was a lie. Now Adam had to know the reason why. The guards had forcibly brought the man in and told him to behave. Adam also knew that there were complaints from family members that had been registered with the local municipality for the abuse of inmates at the hands of the guards and warden. Perhaps the man was afraid of undeserved punishment?
"Tell me, then, if you were to move Ganta, where would you put him?" Adam asked carefully.
"Somewhere quiet and solitary. Maybe in some deep, dark basement of some kind around here to keep him away from those would seek to harm him specifically because of his age and size."
Adam took a moment to think about those specific words. If there was a basement of some kind it would more than likely be under the administrative building as that would make sense for multiple reasons, if for nothing else than for storage. A cell block wouldn't need underground facilities, would they? They would if they were hiding something; something that they didn't want the public to find out about. Adam had already infiltrated several Illuminati facilities in the past including the DARPA facility in Detroit, Panchea, and the Belltower oil rig that had a hidden secret lab all of which were under the surface of either land or sea. If this was another Illuminati front like the others were, what was to say that they also hiding their secrets under the surface of this very 'innocent' private prison?
"Thank you for your time," Adam said.
As he moved to hang up Yō asked, "Just who are you?"
"A man seeking answers," Adam replied right before hanging up the phone and walking out of the facility.
XxXxXxX
11pm local time. Private landing strip.
Adam sat in the passenger bay of the landed VTOL dropship that Malak had been contracted to fly as she was getting paid discreetly by Janus. Adam waited for Janus to get back to them as the Juggernaut Collective were processing the information that he brought back as well as the information they were able to hack via proxy using Adam's phone. Finally, Janus returned to his screen as eniganamous as he always is.
"Adam, we've processed the data you've retrieved," Janus said. A 3D blueprint model appeared on the screen showing the prison. "It appears as though your hunch was correct. There is, in fact, a sublevel below the prison much larger than a shelter or a warehouse to store food or other supplies for the park. Based on the back door we were able to install we were also able to discover that an abnormal power and bandwidth usage heading towards this section of the prison." The blueprint then zoomed in on a specific ventilation system. "These fans lead directly into this section. This will be your point of entry."
"And I hope that you have a way for me to get inside the park?" Adam asked.
"Malak will fly you over the park above the height limit and you'll freefall into the park itself, your Icarus aug taking the place of a parachute. After landing you'll make your way to this vent that will be marked on your map and you'll descend towards the lower levels using your Icarus once more."
"Estimated resistance level?"
"Minimal in the park itself, although they use automated drones to clean the park after hours and there are a few roaming guards. However, they utilize security cameras throughout the park. We should be able to put the exposed ones on a loop long enough for you to sneak past them."
"Say I do get down there and find some Illuminati bioweapon testing ground, then what?"
"Extract any information or willing scientists or individuals willing to expose the program and weapons."
"How?"
"Make your way to the roof of the prison if you are able to stay undetected and Malak will pick you up."
"And if things go hot?"
"Make your way outside and Malak will pick you up there."
"I don't like this, there are too many variables," Adam commented.
"We don't have many options," Janus replied.
"I know."
"Then you'll do it?"
"Begrudgingly. Although, I have gotten into more secure places in the past."
XxXxXxX
One hour later. 10,000 feet above Deadman Wonderland.
Adam stood in the door of the VTOL that hovered over the now long closed for the day theme park. The wind whipped around the entrance as the engines kicked up air turbulence.
"We're right above the drop zone," Malak shouted from the cockpit. "I can only sit here for a few more moments before they notice me."
Adam took a deep breath and took a step forward, falling forward out of the VTOL. The air whipped past him, drowning out any sound that could have been made both above and below him. In the corner of his eye, he watched as the point to activate his Icarus aug. Fifty seconds ticked by and the meters quickly wound down until the threshold was reached and Adam activated the Icarus and the electromagnetic lensing field which immediately started to slow him down until he barely made more noise than a leaf blowing. He stood up from a three-point landing and took a look around.
There wasn't a single soul that he could see and he managed to land in between two camera search fields rendering him virtually invisible to their sensors.
"I'm in," Adam reported over his radio.
"The path to the ventilation shaft is clear and the cameras are on a loop," Malak reported. "Or at least that's what Janus said."
Adam pulled out the first of the only two weapons he brought with him, his Zenith ZAP and held it in a relaxed state of readiness and followed the AR waypoint he could see in the corner of his eye. The other weapon that he currently had holstered was his Zenith CA-40 10mm pistol with a silencer that was loaded with EMP ammo and he had several magazines of AP ammo in his trenchcoat as well in case of a robot that needed killing permanently. He had his lethal augs ready should he need them.
He moved quickly between exposed 'streets' as he made his way past booths that during the day held prizes to be won by children and adults alike. Thus far on his RADAR, there wasn't a single soul or robot around, and that was both a good thing and a bad thing alike.
He approached the gate that separated the 'street' from the backstage area where the shaft was hidden and activated his leg augs and jumped and clambered over the just high enough fence that did nothing more than create a visual barrier between the park's visual side and it's hidden one. Landing without a sound he approached the covered ventilation shaft and punched the lock causing it to break due to his much harder than bone prosthetic arm.
"Are we still hidden?" he asked.
"So far there haven't been any alarms both silent and obvious. You're clear to proceed deeper," Malak reported.
Adam lifted the grate and opened it so that there was a human-sized hole. He holstered his ZAP and pulled out his EMP loaded Zenith and aimed it at the fan and fired one round. It impacted the motor and it temporarily shorted out. When the fan slowed to a safe speed to bypass Adam jumped down the shaft. There were a few more fans on the way down but he fired several more rounds into the oncoming fans until he reached the bottom, his Icarus aug once more activating allowing him to land safely without injury.
Adam kept his Zenith out as there might be more cameras or robots that needed to be temporarily disabled. He started to walk and arrived at a dead end: a massive Vault-like door that had the letter 'G' painted on it in one large letter.
"Malak, I've reached the bottom of the shaft, but we've run into a problem," Adam said over his radio.
"W..t's th..?" Malak asked as the radio slightly broke up.
"There's a large door keeping me out. I'm going to see if I can try and hack it open."
"Ro..er."
Adam approached the door and saw that there was a camera above it and shot it with his Zenith. He knew that the EMP would wear off in less than a minute so he made haste towards the door to see if there was anything to hack to open the massive door. He already saw on his HUD the countdown that showed how much longer the camera was offline hit the halfway mark. He looked and saw no exposed console or wiring that he could exploit to open the door. Adam also didn't see any vents or grates that he could exploit either.
As the timer ran out he activated his camo aug and vanished from the visual spectrum. He moved slowly out of sight as not to tax the processors and hid around the corner from the camera. It came back online and started to sweep the area once more.
It was then Adam had an idea. He pulled out his Zenith once more and waited for the camera's visual range to move away and shot the camera with the EMP once more. He let the charge run out and shot the camera once again. He knew that someone would go out and investigate. He was correct when the door opened and what could only be described in appearance of a Star Wars Stormtrooper walked out to look at the camera.
"Do you see me?" the man asked in Japanese. There was a pause. "It doesn't look damaged to me." Another pause. "Well, we replaced it when that kid showed up a few days ago."
Adam took the opportunity and activated his camo aug and walked right past the Stormtrooper and made his way inside the hidden facility.
He pulled out his ZAP and kept it ready to fire at anyone that surprised him. He followed the single corridor and it led to a very large antechamber that was completely empty, had a large ceiling, and a long down pit that seemed to go on endlessly. In the center was a single pentagonal structure to which the only way to make it across was several bridges that connected to the outsides of the structure. The structure was also several stories high and also appeared to have a single elevator shaft connecting it to somewhere above ground.
He approached the bridge but stopped from crossing it due to a gut feeling. He activated his vision aug and saw the entire floor of the bridge light up in an orange light signifying that there were electrical circuits running through it. He was right to trust his gut as it felt like a trap that would cause his death. He looked around for a console and found one that only had a keycard to scan.
'How to get across?' he thought. "Malak, I've run into a small snag." There was no response, only static. He must've been too deep in the facility for a signal to break through. "Great..."
Adam's HUD picked up a shortwave radio signal coming from the console. 'It could be worth a try,' he thought. He activated his Remote Hacking and immediately saw that their cybersecurity was total trash. He had run into much tougher security in Sarif Industries than what he saw here. Then again, the inmates kept down here probably didn't have augs of the same caliber that he had, or even the equipment to manipulate radio frequencies to hack into computers.
It didn't take long for him to hack through whatever firewalls that the console had. He looked inside the system and saw that each guard that their keycards were keyed to their weight when both armed and armored and if that weight was off within a certain threshold the bridge would give way and the person would fall to their deaths. 'Not a pleasant way to die.'
Adam added his weight under a pseudonym. Once the changes were saved he started to walk across the bridge and it didn't open for him to fall to his death, therefore he knew that he tricked the system, at least for now. He moved slowly as to not trigger the pressure plates by accident.
Once he was across he made his way inside the facility. It was beyond depressing. Gray walls, floors, and ceilings as well as a geometric pattern of paths that made a maze-like pattern in the facility's levels. He hid in a dimmed corridor and waited for a guard to pass by and activated his camo. A Stormtrooper guard walked past him without a partner and Adam reached out and grabbed the guard and held him in a chokehold.
Adam preloaded a Japanese phrase into his HUD. "Ganta Igarashi, where is he?" Adam asked in highly accented Japanese.
"What do you-?" the guard asked.
Adam pressed his ZAP's barrel into the gap between the guard's armor. "Tell me where he is and you get to live," Adam said dangerously. "And don't try anything funny."
Adam could feel that the man's eyes were darting behind his helmet. For all the guard knew Adam had a high powered pistol pressed between the plates of his armor. "On the third level on the outer ring," the guard admitted.
"Which cell?"
"Cell #3801."
"Thank you for your assistance," Adam said right before shooting the guard between his armor plates, the dart piercing right through the bodysuit and into his skin, the dart electrocuting his muscles to the point he passed out. Adam found a closet and threw the unconscious guard into the nearest open closed and sealed it behind him.
Adam carefully made his way up to the third floor of the facility, making sure to stay completely undetected the entire time. He snuck past many guards, cameras, and wandering inmates that the guards were keeping a close eye on.
Once he found the ever elusive cell #3801 he remotely hacked the door open and slipped inside while cloaked. The door closed behind him and his quarry was sitting on the bed.
"Hello?" Ganta asked.
"Speak quietly," Adam replied. Adam activated his remote hacking and set the camera in the room on a ten-minute loop. He then deactivated his active camouflage and revealed himself.
"Who are you?" Ganta asked in a panic.
"A friend."
"What do you want?"
Adam moved out of sight of the observation window on the cell door. "I want information."
"On what?"
"Bioweapons development."
"Bioweapons?"
"Weapons originating from something biological."
"You mean like the Branches of Sin?"
Adam raised an eyebrow, "Branches of Sin, what are they?"
Ganta shifted slightly in a form of discomfort. "Well, they're a power that some people have, every prisoner on this block has, that allows the person to manipulate their blood as a weapon."
"Such as?"
"Well, I can shoot blood bullets, a friend of mine can wield a pair of blades on his arms, and another of us can use their hair as an extension as a highly lethal whip."
That made Adam's eyes widen in realization as that sounded exactly like a weapon that could cause the damage that he saw at the school. "Could these Branches of Sin be used to cause the damage and murder at your old school?" Adam asked.
"You're talking about the Red Man," Ganta said in realization, his eyes widened.
"The Red Man? Who's he?"
Ganta clenched his fists, his eyes started to tear up. "He killed my entire class. He's the reason I'm in here."
"Listen, I'm sorry for what happened to you. It's horrible and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. But I need something from you to help me."
"You said that you were a friend, are you getting me out of here?" Ganta asked hopefully.
"I have friends inside the Juggernaut Collective," seeing as that left a blank on the kid's face he added, "an elite hacking group. They can help get you out of here but I need raw footage that bioweapons are being developed here. What do they do to you guys down here anyway?"
"They experiment on us. Make us fight to the death. They take organs of the surviving losers without anesthesia."
"Do you know if they record any of these fights? If I am to get you out of here and get this place closed once and for all I'm going to need solid proof of this."
"I don't know if they store them, but they do stream us to unknown benefactors that support the prison publically."
Adam raised an eyebrow. "So they're funding the prison through a super powered Fight Club?"
"Yeah, we don't know who they are and they always have their pictures replaced with animals when they appear."
"Do they speak or anything?"
Ganta shook his head, "No, they just watch. If they say anything it's well after we're gone from the arena."
'If I were a prison "promoter" that is slimy as fuck that probably blackmails his sponsors to keep coming back, where would I hide the streams or servers?' Adam asked himself. "Where's the most secure place here?"
"I think there's some kind of control booth that the Promoter sits in when he makes us fight."
'That would certainly be a decent place to start.' "Kid, do you want to get out of here?" Adam asked.
"I want to, but I can't, they'll find me or I'll die from the poison," he said sadly.
"That collar won't be that bad of a problem, so long as it isn't rigged with an explosive," Adam said as he showed his nanoblade before putting it away, "but that poison will be a problem. Where is the antidote located at?"
"It's in the cafeteria but is regulated through Cast Points and kept inside tamperproof machines."
'This could be a small issue. Especially if the star witness was dead because of neurotoxin.' "Can you make your way there and get this antidote?" Adam asked.
"I can't, I don't have enough Cast Points to get some."
Adam pinched his nose, "You are not making this any easier. Listen, find someone that you trust and promise them that you'll bring them with you when we leave if they get you that antidote. Got it?" Ganta nodded. "I'm going to be being as quiet as possible, so please don't raise any alarms." With one last nod Adam activated his camo once more, disappearing; the only thing that could have alerted anyone of his presence in the room being the opening and closing of the cell door.
XxXxXxX
Adam made his way towards the center of the cell block which was, if what he heard was true, was the arena that the prisoners would have to fight to the death in. The area heading towards the arena was quite under-defended. If it weren't for the fact that Adam saw where their movements were he would assume that this was a major trap.
He hacked the keypad outside the secret room that overlooked the large arena and walked inside, the nearest guard far away. The door closed behind him and he looked for any terminals. There were two, one sat near the window that overlooked the arena and there was one near the back. He went for the one closest, the one near the window. It was unlocked and only showed several messages on it, one of which is a notice from the Promoter to back up the most recent performance to the servers. Adam then turned his attention to the other computer in the somewhat luxurious viewing area and hacked his way past a Level 5 encryption. He hit the jackpot.
Inside were hours upon hours of footage of the so-called fight club that these prisoners, some of which were falsely imprisoned, were forced to take part in as well as follow-up reports which involved detailed descriptions on how they removed each body part that was extracted as well as what the effects these Branches of Sin had on the organs. The closest thing that Adam had seen before now that had been of this level of brutality was the Belltower oil rig he had infiltrated when he left Hengsha. He immediately started a copy of all the most recent video files as well as the medical files he could get his hands onto a removable drive he had kept on him.
He heard footsteps outside the door and immediately turned off the screen, activated his active camo, and hid behind the oddly placed waist-high wall next to it. A few seconds later the door opened to reveal two guards dressed in Stormtrooper-white armor carrying high caliber rifles.
"So what are we checking out?" one asked as he waved his rifle's flashlight over Adam's head.
The other looked over towards the window that overlooked the arena. "Apparently there's been a data breach in here and the Promoter wants us to check it out," the second replied.
The first approached on of the computers across from Adam. "You sure? There's fuck-all here."
"The Promoter said something's here, so even if there's nothing here we still have to move as he says. This place is kinda fucked, isn't it?"
"What is?" the first asked.
"Making these Branches of Sin prisoners fight for those hidden sponsors," the second replied.
The first just shrugged. "Then you shouldn't have accepted the job down here as an Undertaker."
"Why'd you take the job, surely you can't be entirely ok with all this?"
"The pay was better. The wife's got another baby on the way and I need the money to start up a college fund for the little guy. Sure, I'm not entirely alright with the way things are run down here but these guys are all prisoners all accused of horrendous things. Why'd you take the job then?"
"Same as you, the money called to me," the second replied. "Although, had I known what was going on here I would have passed on the Promoter's offer."
The first only nodded, "Yeah, that Promoter is something else. He has some serious issues if you ask me."
"On what knowledge, what you got out of your college freshman psych class?" the second laughed.
"Hey! You don't need a psych degree to see that the Promoter has something wrong with him. I can understand dark humor, but he's something completely different."
Adam activated his TESLA aug and targeted the two Undertakers. They both only got off a startled "Huh" as they heard static buildup before they immediately seized up and fell to the ground unconscious. Adam deactivated his cloak and allowed himself to appear once more. Adam turned the monitor back on and watched as the download finished. He disconnected himself from the network after deleting any trace of himself being there; sure, they would know SOMEONE was there, just not him specifically. He noticed a seam in the wall and pried it open to see an elevator shaft that leads straight up.
Adam got ready to leave the office when he had an idea. He carried the two guards into the corner and stripped the one of them that looked close to be his size and stripped the armor off of him. The then took off his trench coat and hid it where no one would find it but him in the room. He meticulously put on the Stormtrooper-white armor to look exactly like the still armored guard that was also knocked out. He placed the helmet on his head and was dissatisfied with the standard HUD that it had and deactivated it allowing him to see with his own, customized HUD that he was used to. He hefted up the bulky assault rifle (which fired shells that should've been against most Geneva convention laws) that the Undertaker held and walked out into the hallway and started towards Ganta's room. The other Undertaker guards were completely unaware of the enemy in their midst.
A few of the guards that he passed either nodded or waved casually at him, which he returned as he didn't want to give up his cover so easily. When he arrived at Ganta's cell he opened the door and held his rifle at rest. "Kid, it's me," Adam said, the helmet distorting his voice to sound staticky. "Did you get in contact with your friend?"
"She's waiting in her cell," Ganta replied.
"Good. Now listen very carefully, play along and we should be able to get out of here under their noses," Adam ordered. "Don't say a word and don't get jumpy or this trip will be over real fast." Ganta nodded in affirmation. "Good, now stand in front of me, I'm going to have to nudge you with the barrel of the rifle, just run with it." Ganta nodded and then did as Adam asked.
They walked through the doughnut-like corridors that wrapped around with spokes leading off to create as much confusion as possible; especially if there were to be an organized breakout. In fact, as they walked towards the room that Ganta leads him to, no one really spared them a glance, as if this happened quite often. They reached the room several tense minutes later and the cell door opened to reveal a young woman wearing a cream-colored dress.
"Minatsuki, it's time to go," Ganta announced.
Her demeanor seemed to change from slightly happy to see him to worried. "Are you insane! There's an Undertaker behind you!" she whisper-shouted.
"He's not an Undertaker, he's…" Ganta paused. "Who are you again?"
"You don't know who he is?" she deadpanned.
Adam could only roll his eyes. "My name is Adam Jenson, I'm with Interpol," Adam answered. "However, I'm investigating this facility for a friend who is a member of the Juggernaut Collective."
"The hacking group?" Minatsuki asked.
"The same."
"Why does a hacking collective want to free us?"
"That is neither here nor now," Adam said succinctly. "We only have a limited time until they discover the three people I knocked out, especially the one that I stole this armor from. The sooner I get you out of here, the better."
"What about the others?" Minatsuki asked. "It's unlike Ganta to leave anyone behind."
"The Juggernaut Collective intends to release all the files I stole from their servers to the public. There will be little support for Deadman Wonderland from the public. And the others who massively invest in your cockfights, for the lack of a better word, will also pull out else they be exposed."
"What about the collars? They're able to track us wherever we go."
"They only transmit your location when they're secured and locked in place, the instant I remove them they'll immediately know something's up and will start a lockdown and search every corner until you're found, that will blow my cover as they'll discover the three guards I knocked out. I'll remove them once we get to a point at which we can't be stopped." Adam looked around outside the cell. "We need to move now. Do you have the antidote?" She nodded. "Good, wait until I remove the collars before taking it; you don't want to have more poison in your system when you just got rid of it."
Both of them only nodded and started to walk in front of him like Ganta had before. As they made their way back to the private suite that the Promoter used a pair of Undertakers stopped them. "What are you doing with those prisoners?" one asked.
"The Promoter wants to see them. I was told not to ask questions," Adam replied, using an accurate Japanese translation.
The Undertaker seemed to nod in affirmation. "Yeah, it's best just to do as the Promoter asks, lest you get assigned somewhere you don't want to be," he said and stood aside to allow them to pass.
The three of them continued carefully to the secret booth but were not given a second glance by any of the Undertakers. Once they were inside the booth Adam made sure to close and lock the door and removed the Undertaker armor he had on and replaced the armor with his trenchcoat.
"Ok, now what?" Minatsuki asked impatiently.
Adam pressed a button on the wall which let out the tell-tale sign of an elevator 'ping'. Less than a minute later false walls opened to reveal an elevator. "That's our way out," Adam revealed. They stepped in and Adam immediately used his augmented strength to rip apart the locks that held the collars in place from both Ganta and Minatsuki and tossed them inside the room. Immediately, the doors closed and an alarm started to blare.
Then a realization came over Ganta, "That's why you waited to remove them. If you did so before then the elevator would have been locked down and we wouldn't have a way out."
"That's one way of looking at it," Adam replied as he pulled out his Zenith and checked the slide to ensure a round was in the chamber.
As the elevator rose Adam started to hear the static on his radio. "Adam, come in," Malak said.
"I'm here, Malak."
"Oh, thank God," she said in relief. "What happened?"
"Oh, nothing. I just picked up the kid from the school killing and his friend," Adam replied nonchalantly.
"What?! How do you know this friend isn't, oh I don't know, a psycho?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The kid, the witness of the attacks, wouldn't leave without his friend."
"Fine, but if this comes back to bite us, I blame you."
"And I'll willingly accept that if that happens. Track my signal and prepare for immediate pickup and dust-off."
"Copy that, Adam. I'm on my way."
Adam then closed the channel and raised his pistol, aiming at the door. As it opened he saw the smug looking face of the Promoter of Deadman Wonderland. Adam pointed his weapon at the Promoter and said, "One word, and you catch a bullet in the face." The Promoter, still with his shit-eating smugness, nodded quickly and Adam gestured to a chair with his gun, to which the Promoter obliged.
The Promoter saw Ganta and Minatsuki and noticed that neither of them had their tracking cum execution collars on. "Curious, how did you-," he asked before he was rudely interrupted by a silenced 10mm round embedding itself in the arm of his chair, the barrel of Adam's Zenith still smoking.
Adam pressed two fingers to his ear and said, "Janus, I'm sending the info packet now."
"Adam, I would advise not sending it now," Janus replied in his scrambled voice.
"If I don't start transmitting it now then there's a chance that you might not get any of the information at all. I'll start with documents before I start with the video."
Janus paused to give the option some thought. "Very well, I've secured a secure channel and server. Start the transmission at your discretion."
Adam did so but kept his eye (and gun) on the Promoter. "If I might be so bold to ask," the Promoter started, still oddly calm, "what documents and video are you talking about?"
Adam's eyebrow was raised for but a moment at that question. "Information, that once released to the world, will make you and your little theme park the most hated man and place in the world. Hell, some might compare you to a certain hated German historical figure and the place he ran. Based on what I saw and what the public will soon see, you'll be lucky if you aren't killed by one of the relatives of your inmates in some dark alley the day after," Adam replied.
The Promoter's eyes seemed to widen. "You can't do this!" he exclaimed.
Adam pointed his gun at the Promoter's head. "Maybe you should've been more ethical in your treatment of other human beings, regardless of how despicable they are; oh, and the false imprisonment of several inmates. Who knows how many are here that are actually innocent? But the Collective will figure that out."
"That's not what I'm talking about!" the Promoter yelled in a complete break in 'character'. "You don't get it, do you? What will happen if those two leave."
Adam made sure to get in his face, his gun pointed at the man's gut, and replied, "Enlighten me, then."
The Promoter seemed to whisper in Adam's ear, but the other two could clearly hear him. "There is an unlisted prisoner here that we keep under wraps. It goes by the callsign 'Wretched Egg'. It is connected to young Ganta there, although we don't know the exact reason why it would 'imprint' on him and have some kind of obsession with him. If he were to leave this facility, the Wretched Egg will once again break containment and wreak havoc on anyone in its way to find him, including many innocents."
"And why pray tell, is this person still alive?" Adam asked. "If they're such a threat to public safety why weren't they killed then?" Don't get Adam wrong, he would prefer not killing anyone, well maybe except this Promoter asshat, but he wanted to know the reasoning. Logic dictated that if such a threat, and an unstable one with an obsession, existed then it would be logical to eliminate that threat entirely.
"The researchers don't have the stones to kill their precious test subject, as well as the fact that said subject is a teenage girl," the Promoter revealed.
"This is rich, coming from the same guy who pits teenage girls and boys alike against each other to the death," Adam sardonically replied.
"Adam, we have the documents," Janus said over the radio. "My God, it's more horrible than we would have ever thought."
"I'm going to start sending the footage. I can already tell that it will take longer due to the terabytes of files I managed to collect." Adam then turned his attention to the Promoter once more. "You know, if I were to kill you now it would solve a lot of issues all at once."
"You wouldn't do that," the Promoter replied, "you're a cop." Adam seemed surprised to hear that. "I know your type, the specific way you hold yourself, the way you speak. It's obvious to anyone who looks close enough."
"You're right about that," Adam admitted. "But do you know what cops do? They protect and serve the public. And you're currently developing and harboring a bioweapon, which is against international law, meaning that you're a threat to the public. Do you know what that means?" Adam asked dangerously.
"But it's not a bioweapon! It's the next stage in human evolution!" the Promoter exclaimed.
"If that were the case you wouldn't be using as a weapon, using children and other innocents as experiments to test it in your little Fight Club that you stream to unknown benefactors. Next evolution my ass, all you care about is the money."
"Adam, I just entered the park's airspace, I'll be there momentarily," Malek said over the radio.
"Copy that," Adam replied. He then turned his attention to the Promoter once more and activated his TESLA. "I've heard enough from the likes of you." He released the charge and the Promoter's body seized as the non-lethal electrical current ran through his body. It was certainly painful, but he'd live to see his little empire crumble beneath him. He turned to the two teens, "Follow me."
The followed the man closely out of the office and to the nearest staircase which leads to the roof. The door was locked, but Adam used his superior augmented strength and punched the door open without any issue. They looked out at the park below, whose guards were currently ushering guests into safe zones as the alarm that was tripped was the alarm of a general riot from the prison blocks. Adam could see Malek's aircraft coming in fast and stopped almost on a dime just off the side of the building and opened the side door.
"Move," Adam said before jumping the small two-foot gap between the edge of the roof and the VTOL. Adam braced himself by grabbing the handrail inside the passenger bay and held out his hand, to which Minatsuki was the first to grab his hand. He pulled her inside and did the same for Ganta. Once they were both inside Adam closed the door and shouted to Malek, "Punch it!"
Immediately the two teens were thrown back into their seats as the VTOL shot forward, speeding away from Deadman Wonderland. Guards who had barely managed to see the aircraft leave the park mistakenly thought that the Promoter had fled the island prison, but they wouldn't realize their mistake until the next day when the news started rolling in from every channel in every country.
XxXxXxX
"Deadman Wonderland: Private Prison or Private Bioweapon Testing Grounds?"
"Condemning documents and video were released by the Juggernaut Collective earlier today revealing human experimentation and fighting rings inside the prison."
"There has been a major pushback from human rights activists in the recent reveal of the inhumane conditions being held as the standard at the well-known private prison-cum-theme park."
"Japanese courts flooded with appeals from Deadman Wonderland prisoners who claim to be imprisoned under false pretenses."
"Deadman Wonderland shut down by Interpol pending an investigation into allegations of human rights violations, human experimentation, and many other potential charges."
"Charges have been filed with The Hague to prosecute Tamaki Tsunenaga, otherwise known as the 'Promoter', for war crimes under international law. He would be the first non-combatant to be charged with such crimes outside of wartime since the end of the Second World War."
"Infamous Deadman Wonderland figure, the Promoter, was arrested by Interpol after hiding out for several weeks."
"Tamaki Tsunenaga was found dead in his cell this morning in alleged suicide."
"Former inmate Ganta Igarashi was released earlier today, cleared of all charges previously levied against him. Former inmate Minatsuki Takami was also released on bail pending a full investigation into her alleged charges."
"I assume everything went according to plan?" a man asked.
"All loose ends have been terminated," a second replied.
"And the boy and girl that were released?" a third asked.
"We have agents watching them, although with their nature already revealed to the public they will be left alone. Should they stand against us they will be terminated, but otherwise all we'll do is watch," the second replied.
"And the Wretched Egg?" the first asked.
"It's currently in the wind, however, we haven't seen any increase in violent murders around Japan nor the world, outside of warzones. We believe she is laying low," the second replied.
"Should we dispatch agents to recover her?" a fourth asked.
"It'd be too risky," the third replied. "Without the subconscious melody of the Mother Goose System, she'd tear apart any agents sent to capture her."
"Should she be terminated then?" the first asked.
"Perhaps we could convince her to join us?" a fifth asked.
"All in favor?" the first asked. Seven raised their hands. "Opposed?" Only four raised theirs. "Then it is been decided, an agent will be sent with an invitation."
"And Jenson?" the third asked.
"For now he unknowingly works for us. The closer he gets to this Janus character the sooner we can dispose of both of them and continue with our plans."
The end.
XxXxXxX
And there we go. Finally done! This oneshot was seven months in the making (primarily due to laziness and writer's block). You guys don't know how good it feels to finally have this one done. There aren't any numbered notes this time around, which is shocking, I know.
As you can see I clearly diverted from canon Deadman Wonderland in both the manga and anime. I found this dabbling interesting and it was fun at times. Originally I was going to have a fight scene, but due to the sneakiness that I had already established I figured that it made more sense to just sneak on out. I did want to portray more augs that he had, but again due to the previous point it was made impossible. As for the elevator? It would make sense as Tamaki would want a fast way to get down to his private fight club without having to go through all those security checks; plus, he would have to do it all without being seen. We see an elevator in the anime that's in his office, but we don't really know where it goes so I just decided to go with this instead.
But anyway, that's all I have this time around. For those of you that like my numbered notes, don't worry I'm pretty sure that I'll have some in the next installment as that's what I do. But what did you guys think? Was it interesting? What did I excel in? What could I have done better? Let me know in your reviews (but remember no flames).
Until next time!
