[writing] Project Chaos - Chapter Fourteen

[djtenku]

Title: Toubou
Word Count: 2229
Summary: Blizzard. Helping hand. Welcome.

The occasional wind sliced through the base, and through the thin exterior walls of the buildings in front. The thin metallic connectors flailed wildly in the wind, threatening to snap off at any second. The connectors were attached to the sub-building’s roof and stretched at a gradual climb before curving up sharply into the darkness. The lights from the main building illuminated the very top of the roof, sometimes flashing.

It was dry, to Shin’s surprise as she planted a foot onto the wire. However, she saw nothing past the first section, except darkness. The wind was already moving her around, shifting her closer to the roof by centimeters. She breathed slowly, calming herself and watched the cold puffs become invincible into the night, and propelled herself forward.

The wire swayed as she raced upwards on the steady incline; it suddenly came from under her as the wire went into a sharp angle. At the last moment, Shin grabbed it and clinged on for a few moments before wrapping her legs around it. She sighed in relief and shimmied up until the angle was nearly straight up. Above, however, a light flashed. She cursed and glanced below at the flailing wire; Shin managed to wedge out a knife from its sheath and with one motion, disconnecting it. She swung haphazardly towards the wall, feet first. The sound echoed despite the howling wind and the light above shifted to her general direction.

Shin bit down on the knife and quickly ascended the makeshift rope, and hearing a muffled voice reporting the snap of the cable. However, it was cut short when she pulled at the bottom of the sentry’s jacket and pulled towards her, tossing him over the edge. She watched momentarily before pulling herself up. The roof was strangely barren, there wasn’t even a door. How did he get up here? Shin did find a small ventilation duct and tore the face off of it. He wasn’t kidding about the size…

Diligently, she lowered herself into the duct system.

* * *

She peered down into the grill, spotting a guard walking by, and smiled to herself. Shin pryed open the grill and quickly glanced around. There wasn’t even another sound. She dropped down and crept behind the guard. The knife found a soft spot; before the guard could cry out, Shin clamped her hand over his mouth before he became limp and slowly let him to the ground. She rummaged through the pockets, taking out two cards. One was solid blue with the number 2 embroidred in white and another that was green at the top and white at the bottom with the number 3 embroidered in red.

She glanced up as she heard footsteps approaching; she stuffed the cards in her pocket and spotted the open elevator not far. It closed with a click as she pressed the ‘3’ button; halfway down the trip, the elevator jerked to a stop. ‘Unauthorized accesses blinked on the indicator and she glanced up at the top corner to see a camera looking down at her, lens adjusting. Clever, she thought, drawing a chaff grenade. After she shook it twice, she let it fall at her feet; it exploded harmlessly and the camera squeaked in confusion. Shin stepped up to the protruding piece of wall and unlocked the grill door, hoisting herself up. She found another open vent and entered it, taking aback by the heat. It was fortunate that it was big enough for her to crouch. She continued until the opening grew smaller and the air became colder.

It took several rights and lefts until the warm air returned. She gazed down at the grill and saw another guard walk by. She began to pry it open but another passed by, this time in full black uniform and helmet. Damn, she thought. She lifted the grill slightly, eyeing the Screamer and guard; they stopped not far and surrounded the door and she saw a 3 on the door. Nodding to herself, she continued on.

-

The searing pain had ended, but now it was dull and nagging with each movement and flinch he made. It even hurt to blink and to think right. Questions and random thoughts started to surface, but it stopped all together as he heard a click somewhere. Kento craned his neck the best he could to look up and saw a couple of fingers sticking through the grill and taking it out. Shin poked her head through, a glimmer of a smile on her bandaged face. “How’re you holding up?” she asked as she dropped down.

“Cold,” he said, sullen. Kento grimaced as Shin placed a warm hand on his shoulder and cursed.

“Hush,” Shin said, voice barely a whisper. “The guards are right outside and one is a Screamer. Don’t give ‘em a reason to open that door and kill us.” She frowned at the sight of the wounds. “What the…”

“Spiked knuckles,” he said hesitantly. “How bad are they?”

“Looks like you’ve been mauled,” she replied with something of a mixture of disgust and awe as she unraveled the makeshift bag, “by a bear or something.”

“Try a tiger,” he corrected her.

Shin paused and it sunk in. She pushed the thought aside though. “Well, I know I’ve got some PKs somewhere…” Shin glanced down at the scatter items and sighed. “I thought I had some but I have something that could close ‘em up.”

“Stitches?” Kento asked, glancing back at her.

“No,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It’s something of an alternate though.”

“Well, what is it?”

Shin grabbed the white tube and poured the contents out. “Well, it helps heal things a little quicker,” she said, rubbing the gel onto his back. “It’s really for burn victims…but hey, it works.”

“Well, I don’t feel – “ The rest of his sentence was lost as the searing pain returned for several minutes, and the duration of it he spent bellowing every curse he knew.

“Quiet down!” a voice from the outside.

Shin flicked his ear after he calmed down. “Don’t curse, it’s bad luck,” she said sternly. “This stuff acts as glue so don’t worry about anything opening up, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to go batshit crazy moving around.”

“Well Shin, you’d be cursing too!” he hissed.

“I didn’t,” she said flatly, unraveling the bandage roll. “Hold this.”

Kento sighed, regaining his composure. “What are we fighting for?”

Shin paused. “I want to know the answer to that too,” she said wistfully. “Lately, it’s been blurred. Is it for ourselves, the weak, our superiors? For wealth or love? Freedom or just cause?”

“I…don’t know. It’s like one of those ‘the question of life itself’ things.”

“The ones that get answered when you die?”

Kento frowned. It didn’t occur to him that he should’ve asked a long time ago. “Yeah. I mean, no. No! I’m sure I’ll figure out the answer sooner or later.” A comfortable silence fell for several moments, until he realized something. “Shina, what did you do with the president?”

“Oh, he’s in the bathroom. He’s alright, I gave him some rations, and well, you heard the story.”

“Yeah, and that su…nevermind,” he said quickly. “Is there anyone else around?”

“Well, if there is, he has a M16 with him. I hope he can do something with it. Anyway…I should get going. It’s only a matter of time before someone finds out something’s up.” She produced the two cards and gave them to him. “The green card is the elevator card and the blue card opens all doors on this level and down, I suppose, even this door. The elevator card works like the blue card too.”

“So, I can get out,” Kento said, more to himself. “But how did you get this?” He stood up shakily at first as Shin rose.

“I have my ways,” Shin said with a smirk. Before Kento hoisted her up, she brushed the side of his face.

“I know,” he said quietly. “It’s just another story to tell, right?” He kissed her on her forehead and lifted her up. Shin thanked him and disappeared from view. Just be careful, he didn’t say.

* * *

So much for waltzing out, Kento thought as he pressed against the door. It was only a matter of time before someone came back and do more damage, if that happened to be possible. The more he dwelled on it, the more sick he became. But, how to do this? he asked himself, glancing over at the makeshift kit. He beamed when the pieces fell together.

“Let me out!” he shouted as he tapped the door. “I need some air; I think I’m gonna throw up!”

“Quiet down in there!” was the reply when he stopped for a moment.

“I need air!” he said, in between coughs. He started to wonder if the plan was going to work, or fail in the form of a gun to his head. Either way, it had to be convincing. “You gotta respect a guy’s wish!”

“This isn’t the Geneva convention! What kinda idiot do you take me for anyway?” the voice shouted back.

“Listen buddy, you wanna live with guilt for the rest of your life?” Kento asked as he grabbed a needle. Etched on its side was Temazepan (30 mg); he popped off the plastic covering the needle and hobbled towards the corner as he heard the voice muttering a curse.

The guard entered, waving around a pistol. Guilt did get him. “Alright, come with me. Don’t you dare think of doing any funny – “ His last word was cut off as the tip pierced the side of his neck, and the temazepan went to work. The guard immediately fell forward, and Kento plucked the gun from his hand, along with clips and a set of cards; the green card was marked with a four and the blue was marked with a one. “Hope you don’t mind,” he said.

He saw another door right across from him, labeled with a blue two on the side. Cautiously, he stepped out scanning left and right. The Screamer Shin warned him wasn’t there, to his surprise. The door automatically opened, and he entered. It was bare, save for a box and something hanging out of it. There was no sign of the armor; he slipped on the thermal top, instantly feeling warmer. But, there was only one set of scratched dogtags. At least I have some luck.

Kento peeked out of the small window. Another guard was making rounds and both doors were wide open. Instead, the new guard peeked into the room. He heard the words “lockdown” as he snuck away, turning into the straight hall. There were no doors or pathways, except in the distance. Not good, he said to himself. Ignoring the surfacing dull pain, he traveled down the hall, gun at his side.

At the first sight of a foot in the distance, he fired a round and the shriek of a man told him that it hit home somewhere. A bullet whistled by his ear from behind, catching him off-balance. Kento answered back with three more rounds, striking the perpetrator in the legs, then chest.

“He’s out!” someone hollered.

He regained his footing and raced for the pathway. Several guards were charging at him, rifles spitting death. He rummaged through his pockets as he ducked into a corner in some hope that a grenade was still there. There was; he threw it coercily into the pathway and stood back as it exploded, emitting a high pitch. Kento picked off the two that were leading and charged at the other two that still had some sense. One guard couldn’t avoid his fist driving into his face, and the other attempted to fend off a kick, but failed to notice the fake and was struck down as well.

Kento continued down the hallway, warding off the pursuers until he reached the coveted elevator. He slammed the “Close Door” button and it instantly did, to his relief, saving him from the hail of bullets. The elevator made its descention and he sighed. The dull pain started to get stronger now. Ignoring it, he slammed in a fresh clip as the elevator stopped on the second floor. The display panel flashed an error sign and he muttered a curse.

The doors slid open, revealing nothing but darkness. “Oh, this is just damn great,” he said aloud as the doors shut behind him. He moved forward slowly, hoping a wall to stop him, but it never came. What the hell was up with this floor?

The hackles on the back of his neck stood on end as something brushed against his arm. Upon that, he heard a sound that of metal scraping together subtlely, echoing for sometime.

“So, the fly has entered the spider’s web,” said a light voice. “And the black spider will claim its prize and it shall feast.” It came from everywhere, but in fact, it came from in front of him.

Darkness gave way to a dim light. All around lines shimmered everywhere, criss-crossing into complex patterns that seemed to form a loose web. Kento found himself surrounded by a set, but he concentrated on two glowing eyes that stared back at him.

“Irasshai,” Taka exclaimed.