Tekeshi wasn't really all that surprised that the scientists working with Fairy Tale were brainwashed in the same way as their soldiers. He wasn't even surprised that they attempted to take him on. The result was, the obvious result. Unlike the woman from earlier, they seemed to think that trying to kill him, was worth more than their own lives. Well, if they valued themselves so little, he had no view of them as any more than viruses.
He looked through papers that lay on the tables and desks around the area. There wasn't much of any interest to him though. It was mostly weapons research, which talked about things like weaponizing water, insects, and aardvarks. They couldn't be serious. This had to be embezzlement, it had to be.
He looked up and around the room. There wasn't really much of any use here. Even to Fairy Tale. He couldn't wrap his head around what these people were thinking. None of it was practical, or even close to possible. Who had given them free reign to do whatever the hell they wanted.
He went from station to station, looking at the papers, hoping to find anything that might be of any use. No matter what though, it was all, bullshit. Nothing was of any consequence to anything. It was almost like it was... all fake. This wasn't any of their research, rather a distraction from looking for anything real.
Tekeshi looked around the room for the nth time. If this was misdirection, then where was the actual research area? That would be where he either found the artifact, or any information on where it was headed from there. But, how would he find how to access it?
He started looking at all the seams in the floor. Checking the walls for seams. Nothing was standing out to him. He wasn't an expert in architecture, so beyond that he really didn't have any idea what to look for. Or, if there was another room.
He turned his sight on the computers. No, this was stupid. It would make more sense for him to look in some of the other research rooms, instead of acting like this was a cheap spy thriller. He was literally the biggest baddest son of a bitch, and he just couldn't shake being a kid completely. Which, he was actually ok with.
He sat down at one of the computers, and turned the keyboard over to find the list of passwords, "Seriously, every damn time. Do these people literally have no long term memory. Every file, they don't... I have to wonder if this gross incompetence is something new, or my folks had to deal with it back in the day. Of course they are mostly monstrels, and people who make prejudice against humans their entire personality."
He started looking through files. He found some useful stuff. Poison gases, low yield dirty bombs, and germ warfare entries. Stuff that you would find any kind of terrorist group showing an interest in. Most of it was marked as impractical, or too expensive. Which surprised him that a terrorist organization had bean counters.
"Well, I guess no matter what, someone has to hold the purse strings," he mused as he found a personnel listing.
Finding the head researcher's name, he managed to also find their computer in the maze of the complex. After finding the obligatory password list, he began searching their files. Compared to all the others, this one had interesting things for him. Including an up to date map of all their other facilities that this one was in contact with.
It was going to make wiping them out easier at the least, but could be filed away for later on. He went through the files, looking for any mention of the heart shaped stone. Where it was, was headed, or was for. Of course he had no clue what he really needed to look for as far as files. Every other post had been low tech, and kept files on paper.
As he clicked through he came across still more dead end ideas and projects. He wasn't sure if Fairy Tale had ever considered just using the internet, but then again, how would they get internet in the middle of a jungle. He doubted that many companies would be willing to risk death and disease to run a fiber line.
As time wore on, he found himself waking up on the keyboard. He didn't realize he had fallen asleep, but to be honest, as smart as he was, he was still seventeen. This stuff was so dry, the Sahara looked like the garden of Eden. So him passing out wasn't a big surprise.
He stretched and looked back at the computer. He had yet to find any mention of the stone, which was surprising. The initial paperwork he had found made it seem like they thought it could be used as some kind of superweapon against humans. Why would it just seem to disappear now, when they had become a hunted species.
He sat back and considered the ceiling for a few minutes as he thought. Even with a genius level intellect, he really didn't have enough experience with espionage to figure out the best way to reason where they might conceal that kind of information. If the head researcher didn't...
He sat up and couldn't believe he hadn't thought about it earlier. Why would they keep that information on a work terminal that was easy enough to access. Instead, why not keep it on a laptop that can be locked up in a concealed area, like personal quarters.
After reviewing the personnel lists, he was disappointed that the ones he was accessing didn't have the quarters listed. That was only a minor inconvenience, the administrator's list would have that. He did have access to the lab cameras... that were offline due to a security event. Well, if him coming in and turning the place into a bloodbath didn't count as a security event, what did?
He got up from the computer and looked around at the corpses that occupied the room. The bullets from his weapon had torn them up pretty well, even if they were smaller rounds than the ones that he tended to use in his rifles. Once again he had to marvel at how deluded Fairy Tale was to think that they could subjugate humans. Who knew what humans could create, and the depths of depravity they could fall to, if their very survival was on the line?
As he went to walk out he found one of his feet going out from under him, and his backside coming into hard contact with the ground. Looking at where he had stepped he saw a spent casing rolling away. Even used ammunition represented a major danger. Shaking his head he got to his feet, to only have the same happen again. He might need to invest in a brass catcher, because this was not only annoying, but embarrassing.
Once he had made sure that he had moved the spent brass away from where he was going to be walking, he got to his feet. Here he was, the demigod that was responsible for the entire existence of vampires, and he was getting his ass thoroughly kicked by little metal cylinders. If they ever wrote legends about him, he was going to leave this out of the interviews.
As he walked toward the admin area, he did his best to ignore the observation rooms. Apparently, they had contingencies for this kind of event, and the results were enough to turn his stomach. Not all of the deceased occupants, appeared to be human either.
He could hear the plastic of the carbine's grip groan as his hand clenched, both in anger, and disgust. History showed that any group that existed to attempt to subjugate others, would always turn against their own to further their goals. One only had to look at Maoist China, or ultra conservative Islamic groups to see that was true. Often times, such would do much worse to their own after they gained control, than they would to their enemies before.
He finally came to the commander's office. He hadn't been here yet, and he could feel something alive in the office, and he could feel an aura of fear and hatred. Big surprise. They really did talk a much bigger game, than they could ever play. He had probably been on the camera the entire time, and this commander was probably in need of a new pair of pants.
He pushed the door open, and saw a woman at a safe muttering under her breath, "Damn it, shit, just my god damned luck. Ok, chick, you just have to get out of here without running into the dude, and you are home free."
"A little too late for that," Tekeshi said as he shut the door with a slam.
The woman stiffened up, before she turned around, "Oh, great. Look, I'm just here to run the place. I don't have anything to do with..."
"You watched your Head of Security, and are hoping that you can try to pull off the same thing, are you," Tekeshi asked as he leaned his carbine against the wall, before he leaned against it himself.
"Great, I was hoping you were some meathead. Look, regardless, killing me doesn't get you anything," she looked irritated that her ploy wasn't going to work.
"It deprives your superiors of a command officer. You have to have some kind of value if they put you into this position. Which means that you might have information on something I have interest in," Tekeshi was very calm as he pulled a knife out, and began cleaning his fingernails.
"Shit. Ok, just, shit. Who the hell are you, and what is even the point of targeting us. We want non-humans in their proper place, what is so wrong with that? You aren't human, I already know that. I saw you shrug off .50s and do magic. What do you have against your own kind," she was going to try every thing that she could to try to survive this.
"Lady, I was born a vampire. I was raised among humans, by a witch. You really think that I can see myself as something superior to them? Some of my closest friends, are human. Look at these weapons, and you really think that yokai would have any chance at dominating them? I really have to wonder, how any of you have this delusion," he didn't notice the ill considered word choice.
The woman looked at him as the information processed, "Vampire? Yokai? Oh no, no. You can't be. Shit, shit, shit. You are the Aono brat. DAMN IT ALL."
Tekeshi squeezed his eyes shut. He had been so good about watching what he said, to make sure that he didn't give away who he was unless he wanted to. Of course he was going to slip up at some point, but he hadn't expected it to be at this kind of a time.
"I am. I didn't intend to reveal that. It really doesn't matter, since you weren't leaving alive. Still, you may know about the heartstone. Where it is? Where it is going? What is it, and what for? Your answer, may determine how quick and painless your death ends up."
The woman began looking around the room. Tekeshi followed her eyes, trying to determine what she was looking for. At the same time he wondered how she was able to figure out who he was. She was still in her human guise, and he could tell that she wasn't really all that young. Most yokai had a similar lifespan as humans, with only the most powerful having much greater ones.
"I don't know what the hell the thing is. They claimed they were bringing it here, but it never showed. I have a few contacts in other groups, and the last I knew it actually arrived, was Northern Ireland. Damn it," she pressed herself back against the wall, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.
Tekeshi didn't have the same pity for the woman, that he had possessed for the one that he had sent to his family to help. This wasn't a display of someone who was here for a better reason, there wasn't really a good reason to become a terrorist, but rather for someone who was only looking out for themselves.
"How did you know who I was." he asked as he pulled his sidearm and checked the chamber.
"Uh."
"An actual answer will make all of this much less painful," he said as the sharp click of the slide returning to battery echoed in the room.
"GAAAAHH. I was the one who actually poisoned you," there wasn't really anyway that she could really escape.
"Oh, well. I didn't expect that. That doesn't tell me exactly how you know who I am now."
"How many other vampires could bounce a nuke off their face," the woman answered, her stress reaching the point that most beings started becoming much more confrontational.
"Well, I guess that is true. That would also explain why you didn't question why I said I was born a vampire, and asking if I meant I was a vampire. Still, you are something else. You actually can admit that you tried to kill me," for some reason, he wasn't angry at the woman for that.
"You already said you are going to kill me. What do I have to lose? My life," she had a good point.
"How?"
"This might actually impress you. The laundry for your bed. Little particles of pure platinum, that you would breathe in. It wouldn't be enough to harm an adult vampire, or even make them notice. An infant, deadly," she had a slight sadistic smile on her face.
Tekeshi looked down as he thought. She wasn't wrong, he was actually impressed. Most people wouldn't know that almost all pure metals could harm vampires. Silver was among the most dangerous, which made it excellent to use for limiters and seals. The seal that at one point was fused to his heart was of an extremely pure iron, to prevent it from killing him as he grew. Platinum was so rare, and valuable, that he wouldn't have ever thought of using it for a purpose like that.
He looked up as a pair of fangs entered his shoulder. He was confronted with a facef ull of snakes. He simply blinked at the attack. It appeared the woman was a gorgon, and had just waited for a chance to take her last gambit and put it into play.
"So, uh, are you always this kinky, because I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate you sucking on me like that," he asked, as she suddenly realized that he wasn't petrifying.
She slung herself back, only to be pinned to the wall with her feet a foot off the ground, "How? Nothing resists a gorgon's bite. How are you not stone?"
"I'm not a vampire anymore. I am a demigod. How far that goes, I really don't know, but I do know that it is going to take much more than that, to put me down," he said as he forced her farther back.
She kicked out, and at one point even connected the heel of her shoe, which happened to be a three inch stiletto heel, with his eye, "Ok, thank you for not wearing a skirt. I really am not interested in getting another eyeful today. Like I said, I am taken, and she looks a whole lot better than you."
"Screw you, screw your father, screw your mother. Screw all of you. Even now I can't get anything over on them," the color of her cheeks was starting to get red.
"You, uh, know them?"
"They lost me my job, and more importantly my girls. Nothing I did was enough to hurt them. Anything I did, just hurt me more," she seethed.
Tekeshi had been told about more than a few instances that happened during his family's time at the school. Some of those teachers were still there, though much better controlled now. He couldn't right off remember until he thought about her saying that she had lost her girls.
"Ishigami Hitomi," he said as he switched his language to Japanese, "I don't know how you were able to sneak past my family to do that to me, given they knew who you were. That explains why the word yokai identified me. Somehow, I shouldn't be surprised that you ended up with Fairy Tale. Goodbye," and with a simple twist of his wrist, she went limp.
He suddenly dropped the body, and began heaving. It took him a second to realize why. Before, he had never killed coldly, at least, not in the same way. He hadn't killed coldly, with his bare hand like that. He wasn't angry, he had a connection, had talked calmly with her, and just snapped her neck with no emotion.
He looked down at his hand. Killing wasn't new to him, and she had told him that she tried to kill him as an infant. What was so different? Why didn't putting a bullet between one of their eyes, or taking them apart with a sword, do the same to him. He heaved again as he looked over at the glassy dead eyes of the gorgon.
Damn it. He was a hardened warrior. He had been blooded in the killing fields of an actual war. Why now? Why didn't he have this happen to him there, in that valley. Was it because he wasn't a vampire anymore? Had he become closer to being a human? Shinso had been born a human, even if he was the son of a human and a goddess. Was this the result of him taking on the powers, and the responsibility of the ancient man?
Who was he now?