Comments: And now... we're
finally underway, the main charaters will be introduced at intervals and
our leading female is about to make an appearance!
Disclaimer: ALL CHARACTERS
BELONG TO ME and me alone! Show some respect and
ask if
you're going to use them!
*** CHAPTER 02 : Image ***
___
Vacation's
where I wanna be
Party
on the beach where the fun is free
We
don't need a holiday, it's time to celebrate
'Cause I need a break, I need a vacation
Vitamin
C
Vacation
___
Toki rubbed his back as he quietly strode out of the office and down the sterile white hall. The white was meant to make it look clean, untouched. To Toki it was more of a way to hide the dirt that lay about them. The cases unsolved, the criminals set free, the ones who got away...
He walked past a pair of rather giggly officer's; probably rookies who weren't used to being there yet. Why were they staring? Probably his eyes; a side-effect of a past he'd rather not speak about. The red irises and black where there should be white was enough to make people afraid of him. But the girls weren't frightened...
Shaking his head he quickly swiped his CODE card through the elevator pass and the doors opened. He stepped inside; dreaming of a hot bath and a night of blissful sleep.
"Hold the elevator!" A female voice called. He grabbed the already closing door. Akiko Mya ran in and swiped her own card through. "Thank you Captain." She acknowledged.
"No problem." He responded then added. "Thank you by the way."
She glanced at him placidly, not a trace of emotions. "Oh? For what?"
"For earlier today when you took the initiative of asking the chief to give Anya Romenko the week off. However you can tell him she's going to be staying on anyway." She nodded. "He's never liked me since I was promoted to head of the D.A.V.E team."
"It isn't you he hates. He hates D.A.V.E as a whole. He doesn't believe that the threats of viruses are that important. He feels a team as usual and resourceful as yours should be put to use on the force. He says there are more important things to fight than data streams and random number generators."
"Really? I always thought he supported D.A.V.E..."
"Perhaps, he respects your experience; however he believes -"
"It would be useful somewhere else...yeah I got that." Toki interrupted. Akiko looked a little flustered but she didn't let anything show through her mask. The elevator stopped and two more people got on at the thirtieth floor while Akiko got off before Toki had time for himself to think.
**
He stepped briskly into the parking garage. Fumbling for his keys as he headed to his car. The murder case was still heavy on his mind; what could do that to a person? He needed to find out and quickly before anyone else got hurt or killed. He stepped in front of his car and laid his hands on the front of it bowing his head forward allowing the long aqua blue bangs to hide his face. Closing his eyes he tried to regulate his breathing.
Being a leader was not something he was ready for. It was taking a lot of energy to be something everyone could look up to. He would already stay awake for all hours of the night thinking of what to say to the team the next morning when something went wrong. It wasn't like he couldn't see the admiration in their eyes as he spoke to them; they'd follow him blindly into death if he said so.
He was so tired...
The ride home would be short enough for him not to fall asleep; but could he make in the door without falling asleep on the spot? He should call in sick but it'd be just another reason for the chief to hate him.
Maybe if he came in late...
He reached his apartment without incident and punched in his CODE to enter the building and then again to get into the room itself. He threw his coat on the back of the chair and unzipped the collar of his vest, loosening the holder in his haphazard ponytail; the only thing he didn't keep immaculately clean and tidy. His apartment looked spotless, his desk at work the same, always in a clean pressed uniform. He was perfect right? His hair seemed to be the only indication at all that he wasn't a Supreme Being of cleanliness.
The water for the bath ran cold for a moment then gradually heated as he removed his boots and socks. The blisters on his feet were starting to heal and would soon be gone. Wounds never stayed long with him. Another side-effect of the experiments so long ago. He pulled his shirt over his head and completely untied his hair while soaking his feet in the gradually rising water.
He was about to jump in after them when the phone rang. Groaning he pulled his feet out of the tub and shut off the water. The ringing was incessant as he padded back into the living room. He grabbed it and tried to keep his voice level as he answered.
"Toki Himura." He clipped. It had better be a damned good reason to interrupt his moment of freedom.
"Toki, this is Saka." the gruff voice said over the other end. It was apparent he'd just been woken up. "The office just called. Seems there was an explosion in the CRACKED lab. They want D.A.V.E to go check it out..."
Toki groaned. "When?"
"Now. When else? God, I've been awake thirty six hours... you'd think they'd let me sleep for two..." Saka complained. Toki grinned.
"I know how you feel. Get suited up and meet me there; call everyone else. I'll be on my way."
"Yeah yeah..." Saka grumped and hung up.
It was Toki's turn to turn sour. An explosion? Was the chief trying to turn D.A.V.E into a SWAT team? First an unexplained murder, obviously not related in anyway to a virus now the destruction of a lab. He shook his head making his hair flair out a bit. It wasn't fair; he was being run ragged for something that didn't even involve him. When was the last time he slept anyway? Thirty six was too small a number...
His uniform lay on the floor and he stared for a moment before picking it up and throwing it back on. He could care less if it was wrinkled or not. Not bothering to button the collar he took off out the door almost forgetting his car keys and CODE card. He turned sharply and ducked back in the door to retrieve them.
His mind was wandering... It could cost him if it wandered too far. He'd have to let Saka know so they could be on guard for slip ups. An explosion? Who would destroy the CRACKED lab? What could possibly be that important? But moreover, were the CRACKED scientists hurt? Or possibly dead? He shuddered, the thought of the possible loss of life was terrible.
Saka stood in front of the building, still in uniform but looking very rumpled; even more than usual. His hair flat and a pair of dark lines accented each eye seemed to indicate how tired he was. Beside him Daphne was asleep on her feet. Her own hair sticking out in bizarre directions and not even in uniform the large cat-girl seemed dead on her feet.
When Toki arrived Saka poked her in the ribs eliciting a rather large meow. The man with aqua hair that also looked frazzled smiled.
"How is everyone holding up?" He asked carefully. Saka groaned.
"I need three days straight of sleep to even feel like I'm dead." He complained. "I think D.A.V.E needs to expand its field units."
"They did." Daphne explained. "We just happen to be the best and therefore called upon the most."
"Yeah well, they should give the rookies a chance to shine." Saka grumbled. "Can we get this over with please?"
"Agreed. Daphne what are we here for?"
"Well, according to HQ; the explosion happened at about 2:30 am. I think they said the full compliment of the CRACKED team was in there." she said.
Toki frowned. "So we should expect casualties. Okay, lets go everyone." They moved in carefully as the walls crumbled around them. The building was on the near point of collapsing into a pile of cinder blocks at any moment. The small thirty story building was only a smear across the pavement compared to the colossal buildings surrounding it but it was sturdy, it would have taken a horrible explosion to even dent it.
Toki stood a moment before issuing orders. "Saka, I want you to scout ahead, figure out if any of the paths are still available, wake up Anya too; I want her insight." Saka nodded and took off. "Daphne, keep close and search for casualties. Call Mariah and make sure she gets a med-team over here on the double. I'm going to figure out of any of these panels are still operating. If we're lucky a basic power source will still be operating. "
"Of course sir."
He turned and headed for the nearest information panel tapping it once and waited for a response. Luckily it phased on and a reading of the power supply came up. It was battery powered and would only last a few hours. They'd have to work fast. Fiddling a moment he managed to hack into the main power supply and light a few hallways to help Saka find his way and Daphne find some casualties. The glass panel quivered under the strain it was being put under.
"Sorry." He muttered and continued tapping away.
Daphne came scrambling up a pile of rubble. "No survivors sir." She said sadly. "Any place I couldn't get into I marked for the evacuation team to check. But I doubt we'll find anyone alive." The remark was grim and Toki knew it was true.
"All right, go help Saka then." She took off again, climbing over piles of rubble like nothing due to her massive paws. Toki returned to his work and prayed he'd find something in the logs. His eyebrows knitted together as he worked pulling up file after file trying to find something that would indicate why the CRACKED team would be targeted like this. He was reading a rather long and dull file about a theory of reconverting electrical energy to the human body to power the cybernetic implants CRACKED planned on inputting into a human specimen when Saka called.
"SIR! I think you'd better see this!"
Toki turned his head and then shut down the panel before hightailing it to where Saka and Daphne stood with a double look of intrigue and horror. He gave them a questioning glance but neither said anything until they started moving. They headed down a large cavernous tunnel seemingly carved out of the ground by an inexperience group of people, probably CRACKED themselves.
"The explosion created a few new passages we would've otherwise missed." Saka explained. "After a minute I called Anya and had her pull up a structural map and she found that this passage wasn't in it, in fact she couldn't find anything in any of the archives on this one, or any of the others we found at all."
"It wasn't in the schematics?"
"No, even more, this passage leads downward under the city, where it spreads out into a type of labyrinth."
"How do you know?" Toki questioned.
"I ran for a while to check it out." Daphne said quietly. "I didn't go far because I didn't want to get lost but I noticed something very interesting. It's a lab sir; completely hidden from any plans, away from regular research."
"Could this be the reason the CRACKED building was blown to bits?"
"Its possible. We haven't gone too far yet but there's something very interesting you need to see."
They continued downwards for what seemed like forever. Toki's feet were killing him, Saka was yawning every four seconds and it seemed like Daphne had gone into auto-pilot and was merely moving to move. They descended down another stairwell, probably the sixtieth by now.
"This sucks." Saka stated echoing Toki's own thoughts exactly.
"Yeah, and just think," Daphne teased tiredly. "We get to go back UP after all of this."
"Don't remind me." Toki sighed. His feet hit solid ground and glanced to his left where Saka had leaned against a wall. "I think we made it." He observed. Suddenly Daphne was reanimated and took off into a large metal room. from what could be seen, the impact of the bomb had not affected this place as heavily. However, debris and rubble lay scattered across dirt the floors almost obscuring the obvious line of where the dirt tunnel met the metal floors of the laboratory. The two men glanced at each other before shrugging and following Daphne inside.
They found the cat woman standing in front of a glass information panel typing furiously, nodding randomly, pausing for a second, then continuing to type away. Daphne was talking to Anya over the radio and seemingly trying to access a locked file.
"Saka, Anya says Mariah is on her way down here. Could you go pick her up at the sub-floor landing?" Daphne stated.
"Why is Mariah here?" Toki demanded, Daphne shrugged.
"Why do I have to go? We made it down fine all by ourselves! She's a big girl, she can handle herself right?" Daphne opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it and continued her work.
"Ah'm here!" Mariah's voice echoed in the cavernous opening as she skipped down the remaining stairs. "Anya thought Ah'd be the best suited to hack open a couple'a files to open that big ol' door ya'll are worried about sugah!" Daphne nodded and stood aside.
Toki smiled slightly. It was good to have the whole team together like this. Finally catching his second wind for the fifth time that night Toki explored the area. A few dead bodies littered the lab. It seemed they'd all been killed by either the collapsing ceiling or a mysterious energy surge. None of the main panels worked, wires were cut, and a faint smell of burnt plastic wafted through the air. It seemed that someone had been down here before the explosion and had burned the equipment and deactived most of the panels.
On the other side of the room Saka was closely examining the hatch to the door the girls were working so feverently to open. It was a standard doubly reinforced titanium door found in most labs all over Galani Prime. Stumped and utterly angry at the gigantic door for not opening and revealing its secrets Saka kicked it. It didn't do a thing to the door but it made a mighty dent in his boot and bruised a toe. He could hear Mariah and Daphne sniggering in the background as he hopped around on one foot cursing loudly.
"Done messing with things bigg'ah and strong'ah then you Sugah?" Mariah teased. Daphne tried not to smile but a feral grin was managing to sneak its way past her and played cautiously on her lips. After a moment she went back to fiddling with the panel.
"Okay Anya, Ah've by-passed the main auxiliery systems and Ah'm currently floating around in something called "Got'Cha"? What's a got'cha?" Mariah asked a puzzled look crossing her face. She waited while Anya screamed into her ear.
"Oh kay so this here file is a trap and most likely to release some horrible terror upon us all."
Saka paled. "Uh, you're kidding right?"
"Nope, says right here... 'Got'cha'..." Mariah laughed. "Pro'lly not a good sign huh? Ah'll just cower in fear now."
"Not funny Mariah, is the threat real or not?" Toki barked from across the room.
"It's real sugah."
At that moment there was a loud crash and a part of the ceiling fell near Toki's feet. He jumped back landing a few feet away and near Saka who glanced around cautiously holding his gun tightly. The two men glanced at each other and nodded then both walked in opposite directions.
"Uh, Toki honey? What do'ya want us here girls to do?"
"Get out of the room. Saka and I can handle this." Toki replied, never removing his eyes from the hole in the ceiling. Daphne stayed put lifting her massive paws and growling. "There isn't any time for that Daphne" He berated. She dropped out of her fighting stance and gave him a freezing glare.
"Get outta here you guys!" Saka called just as whatever it was they were fighting dropped out of the ceiling. Toki rushed to it and opened fire at the cloud of dust rising, Saka followed suit and rolled to the side. Mariah grabbed the protesting cat woman and hauled her out the nearest exit.
From somewhere a flash emerged knocking the pair head over heels. Toki slammed to a halt when he hit the metallic structure with his shoulder blade. Biting his tongue to keep from crying out in pain he squinted to try and find his target. The dust was obscuring his vision and he couldn't find an accurate target. The chance of hitting Saka was too high. And somewhere out in the mess Saka was having the same problem.
Toki sat up onto his side and coughed. The walls were starting to crumble as well now as the smoke cleared. The enemy showed through the dust cloud now vaguely. It was the shapely figure of a woman, a small woman but nevertheless still deadly. She bounded through the cloud straight at Toki and locked her arms around his neck.
He grabbed her wrists trying to pull them away but her grip was firm and unyeilding. Her red eyes burned into his own as she glared at him; her grip tightening a fraction.
"You are an intruder!" She breathed. "Desist and I will spare your pathetic existance."
"Alright! I give up!" Toki gulped. Her grip loosened a bit but she held on still. "Look, I don't want to hurt you unless you give me a good reason to."
She laughed, it would have been a beautiful laugh if she didn't have her hands locked aorund his throat. 'Where is Saka?' Toki thought and she sat on his chest and released him. "I very seriously doubt you could harm me." She stated smugly.
"Really? And just who are you?" Toki asked observing her. Small but built this woman had pale skin, white hair and red eyes. She wasn't human from what he could tell; so then she must be an android. A realistic looking robot. A woman who was twice as strong as a regular human.
"I don't have a name."
"What should I call you?"
"Your worst nightmare..."
"I highly doubt it miss."
"We'll see -"
Saka rounded quietly from behind and swiftly aimed and pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped through her skull and out again spraying Toki with psuedo-blood; every android had a type of fluid to keep them going which looked like blood. She dropped backwards off his chest.
"Its about time." Toki complained wiping the liquid off his face. Saka smiled.
"Sorry, I had a hard time finding you." Toki took the hand he offered and Saka hauled him up. "What a whacko. Hope she didn't beat you up too much before I found you."
"I'm fine."
"Boys!" Mariah's voice laced with urgency cried out. "Get ov'ah here!" They looked at one another and began to run.
Toki's ankle caught on something and he landed face first on the metal floor. "Ouch..." He lifted his head to figure out what was holding him back and found the white-haired woman's hand gripped onto his ankle. She smiled evilly as blood ran down her face and dripped to the floor and tiny droplets. He lashed out trying to undo her grasp but she held firm.
Saka had gone halfway across the room when he realized he was alone. turning sharply he found Toki wrestling with the android. She was now on her feet pulling punches which he was having trouble avoiding. She landed one to the lower side of his rib cage and Saka almost heard the snap noise as it impacted. Toki was thrown backwards again coming to a halt as he slammed into a wall. The android walked slowly towards him.
Without thinking Saka raised his weapon and fired a round of bullets at her. Most of them hit their target with no effect. The albino kept advancing with a sickening slow pace. Toki was immobile for the moment struggling to lift himself up. Saka, helplessly watched on as the scene progressed.
Then, in a flurry of purple and fur Daphne sprang at the attacker. Her massive paws allowed her to be a great fighter, not skilled, simply energetic. While she clawed at he android Saka moved in and helped Toki out of the corner.
"How bad are you hurt?" He asked, concern written clearly across his face.
Toki tried
to smile but it was more of a grimace. "I'll live, I don't think anything's
broken... yet..." Saka laughed nervously.
And then, with a resounding
meatllic clang Daphne put the threat out of commission. The albino lay
in various pieces littered across the floor the blood-like substance streaked
everywhere in a mess. Daphne grinned ferally which was easy for her seeing
as she was half cat.
"If ya'll don't mind." Mariah called from her hiding place. "Ah think there's somethin' in here ya'll should see..."
Saka and Toki slowly made there way to the alcove with Daphne close behind almost skipping. They met Mariah who looked a little awed.
"Guys, Ah found another lab! It's down this hall!!"
"Excuse me?"
"That's what Ah said!" she tugged at Saka's sleeve. "C'mere and see!"
The bedraggled group made their way after Mariah who was practically running deeper into the cavern. Saka watched the walls as they began to emit a soft hum and a green hue appeared.
"What is this place?"
"Better yet, how many of these damned things are we going to find before this all ends and I go home and sleep?" Saka spoke loudly.
"A lab, even deeper in." Mariah explained ignoring Saka, as usual. "Ah thinked CRACKED wasn't everythin' it said it was..." A pulse of green light seemed to brighten in agreement with her as they furthered their way into the halls.
"I'm so sick of walking." Saka complained. A chorus of agreements were heard and a conversation of what they'd all be doing once they had free time managed to keep them occupied until finally the weary group came to a rest at the edge of a doorway. Mariah stepped forward and placed a hand on the keypad. She closed her eyes and made ready to open the door.
"Hurry up!" Saka muttered.
"This is a very delicate procedure!" Mariah snapped back and went back into concentration.
Suddenly before anyone could complain (again) she brought up her fist and smashed through the keypad. The door opened with a whoosh, and Toki blinked in surprise as a piece of plastic flew by his face. "I take it you didn't do this the first time..." He deadpanned. She blushed.
"Nah, Ah spent time figgerin' out the password. But Ah forgot it and Ah felt like lettin' off some steam seein' how ya'll won't let me fight." She scratched her nose with a perfectly manicured nail. "However, ya'll are free to enter the room now."
And so they did.
"Spread out!" Toki ordered standing under his own power for the time being. "I want every corner searched. We don't have much time, this place is coming down sooner than later."
"Yes sir!" They said in unison then scrambled about at their pre-assigned tasks.
Saka was the first voice heard. Far in a corner he had lifted out a pile of junk to find a CRACKED scientist. He was bleeding and unconscious but alive. Around him were others not so fortunate. Daphne scrambled over to get a better look at their survivor who obviously was one of the only people around to tell them what happened.
Meanwhile Toki slowly searched the other areas of the lab with Mariah hovering around him ensuring he wouldn't fall.
"You know Mariah," he quipped. "I'm quite capable of taking care of myself." She timidly backed away.
"Ah know sugah. Ah'm just worried is all..."
"Thank you for you're -"
Toki stopped and stared, jaw agape. And Mariah followed suit. In front of them stood a large tube filled with a blue liquid that bubbled excitedly. And in the middle, floating soundly unconscious;
Was a girl, a human girl.
***END FILE***