Chapter 2: The Second Herrscher III
Midnight, February 2, 2000CE, Babylon Labs, Scientists' Living Quarters
A white spirit floated above the ground, slowly approaching two scientists running away from it. "Hurry!" "Oh god, it's killed everyone!" "Oh no, it's right behind us!" "Why can't we lose it, it's still chasing us!"
"Heh, heh, heh." The ghostly projection grinned, its face warping creepily. The scientists, in panic at this sound, continued fleeing, away from the thing that had impaled their colleagues with strange spears. Finally, they reached the doors of the main laboratory, one scientist speeding up before his other coworker.
"Hey, wait for me! Don't close the doors before I go through—"shink"—the sound of slicing was heard. "My legs?! I can't feel my legs! Save me—" "stab" the fallen scientist was also impaled. The other still living scientist punched the keypad, and the great metal doors closed, blocking his view of the white horror. "Phew, I'm saved… I can wait for backup from Schicksal here—" a pale hand phased through the door entirely, followed by the rest of the body. "Ahhh! Monster!" the panicked scientist desperately grabbed a nearby injector gun and shot at the thing's head, hoping to kill it. What he did not expect was for holes in space to open in front of the ghost and swallow the needles, "WHAT THE F—" the holes opened up again, and the needles he had shot stabbed him instead. The injured scientist slumped to the floor, mind rushing with questions.
"None of you deserve mercy." The apparition finally spoke. "You are all evil, a scum on this earth. But you specifically? You will suffer before death." The scientist recognized the voice: It was the purple haired girl he had knocked out in the morning. "If you hadn't put me and Shirou to sleep, we could have saved Bella. She would still be with us. I think I'll start with your legs, then your arms, then your eyes, then your other senses. You will scream.. like how she screamed. Feel her pain for me."
The scientist who served bread before Shirou took over died slowly.
Over in the head scientist's office, a portal opened, breaking the lightbulb with a small void lance. In the dim light of the nearby window, only the silhouettes of people could be seen. The head scientist was frantically panicking, all surveillance footage of the other scientists showing them going missing somehow, when another larger portal opened up and two beings stepped through. Their orange and gold eyes gleamed with hatred in the darkness.
"I can't see you properly with the light like this! Identify yourselves! Who are you, what do you want with me—" "Shut up, worm. You are the cause of Bella's death, Whether you injected Bella yourself or had your employees do it for you, she died because you chose her for the tests. Now, retribution has come." The head scientist finally recognized the children "Wait, it's you two brats…?" "I would just kill you myself if I was alone, but I feel another should be given the chance to exact his vengeance too." The purple haired girl spoke, gesturing to the boy beside her.
"Head scientist. For all the children you killed before I was left here in Babylon Labs. For Bella, whom you used for your cursed experiments. The Void Queen has ordered your death… and I am her Executioner." Shirou revealed something that had made him puke the first time he had seen it with his unique ability with blades: the scalpel the head scientist himself used on every experiment. Without a further word, its owner was stabbed in the gut.
"Void Queen…? No… the Second Herrscher has awakened here… the Overseer…!" "The Overseer will die, just like you are now, for his crimes against the children here. Otto Apocalypse will know that this was his biggest failure."
"Shut up, Subject HM-03-1204…! How dare you call him by his name…! The Overseer will send Valkyries to stop this and kill—" "We know. And we will be ready." –slash—. With that last sentence, Shirou slashed the head scientist's throat, letting him bleed out. He returned to Sirin's side, and together they warped out of the office, back to Bella's body.
*"Schicksal Report: Date 2/2/2000, Midnight—the overseer lost contact with the experiment site for Valkyrie stigmata known as Babylon Labs in Siberia, Russia. Surveillance footage could not locate the presence of all 322 research personnel assigned to the site, as all cameras had been smashed by a blur barely recorded by the security network. Additionally, there has been a spike of Honkai energy in the vicinity. Overseer Otto Apocalypse has ordered a full investigation of this incident, but has ordered the true nature of the experiments conducted at the labs to not be revealed to the Valkyries being sent to investigate. A full squad will be stationed as backup nearby should the investigators encounter difficulties. Strangely, the Overseer has only vaguely informed his adopted granddaughter about the issues and is trying to firmly discourage her from joining the initial investigation for unknown reasons, but knowing her, she will insist on going even if the Overseer outright bans her, though he will still have to provide a believable excuse. The investigating Valkyries are calculated to reach Babylon Labs at approximately noon today."*