Fan Fiction ❯ Human Alloy ❯ Things Amiss ( Chapter 2 )

Why was Mercy the first thing I noticed when I opened the door? No, Kane was, Mercy was second. Damn the whole world! I swear R.A.D.A.R. was conspiring against me…..

 

“Uh, hi?” I said sheepishly in question as to why these people were waiting for me. Including that, Mr. Quendenski and Mr. and Mrs. Talbert where there waiting for me. No one said a word.

 

“Please, have a seat,” Mr. Quenddenski offered, holding out a chair for me to sit in. Having nothing better to do, and not being able to think of anything to do anyway, I sat down. The others took a seat, save for Mercy and Kane who remained standing, both looking vacant. Green tinted hair was flipped back instead. The Corporation's president stood at the head of the table, behind his chair as he called everyone's attention to him.

 

“Now, now, I'm sure you're wondering why I've asked for you, Banks,” he said after clearing his throat several times. I nodded.

 

“Yes, I am,” I replied. He ignored my comment and continued.

 

“As you may know, we at R.A.D.A.R. have mentioned the making of the Human Maid Service robots.”

 

“H.M.S.”

 

“Although the media is belittling us, I, as a proud president of my corporation, have decided to fall through on my decision and begin the process of making these robots. Now, you will be needed to program a number of things…” He then turned his conversation half over to Mrs. Talbert.

 

“Here's a list of the requirements needed and everything that should be properly installed, ran through, purged, and tested,” she said, her tightly tied black, chestnut brown hair pinching the corners of her eyes. She handed me a stack of paper that weighed probably ten pounds. Mr. Talbert then shuffled through the papers, explaining things I already knew. All I did was bob my head the entire time and say, “I know.” Mr. Quendenski put in several unnecessary comments about how Larin was proud of me and how I worked, which I knew for a fact that Larin wasn't proud of me, but at least the president was complimenting me on how well I was doing in my progress at the company.

 

“Remember, we have to keep this human-like not a complete human. Because the people around the world are so damn worried about our products, even though they're the ones supporting us, they don't want something that will compete against them and win. So you must make something that can respond like a human, like if it were made for the sole purpose of understanding humans, but not something that will make people think they need to worry about something else taking over their life. Do you understand what I'm saying?” Mr. Quendenski asked.

 

“What he means is that he wants human robots without being actual human robots,” Mrs. Talbert put in.

 

“Okay?” I said a little clueless. How contradictory was that?

 

“We also see that you have other company?” Mr. Talbert suddenly asked in his observation, not even glancing over at Kane or Mercy. My fox barked in a reply.

 

“Er yes I do?” I asked, completely befuddled now.

 

“I understand Mr. Jiles is our top employee at R.A.D.A.R. in our natural Development and Biology departments?” Mr. Quendenski inquired, looking to Kane with raised eyebrows. He only nodded, still looking dazed and out of it, eyes containing a dull luster. “He'll be your partner in this new H.M.S. development. I want you to work with him in Lab 2 on level F26. Lab 5 F23 will have auto mechanics awaiting your design structure for building process. I'd like the basic frame done by tomorrow afternoon. Can you do that?”

 

“Yes I think so,” I answered, still muddled with puzzlement.

 

“I can help,” Mercy told me in that sexy female voice, walking over to me and placing her paws in my lap. She looked into my eyes. I nodded.

 

As if knowing what she'd need to do, Mercy gave me a nod and ran out the door, metallic tail swishing behind her.

 

“Well then,” Mrs. Talbert exclaimed, clapping her hands, “now that that's over with, I can get back to work. Sorry but the Fashion department is calling for me!” With that she walked briskly from the room, her tight red skirt straining at the seams by cause of her pace. She was followed by her husband as he rushed behind her, nodding a goodbye to us. The president nodded, his thick dirty blonde mustache wiggling with his upper lip, blue eyes piercing.

 

“Get along now, I expect good results!” he added as if in afterthought, shaking my hand vigorously amidst my paper laden arms. Scattering a few top sheets, he adjusted his tie and nodded to me. “I must take leave; there are other matters in which I am needed to attend. If there are any questions,” he paused here, handing me his business card, “call my number here and I'll contact whoever in the building you need to talk to!” With that, his bulky figure left, leather shoes squeaking on the polished hallway floor. I sat a moment, gathering my bearings.

 

“Okay,” I sighed heavily, setting the papers down on the table. After rifling through the already messy stack of outlines and diagrams, I hand picked several sheets I needed. Folding those and sticking them in the side of me jeans so I would lose them, I grabbed the others and threw them into the nearest trash can. All those wasted papers just explained things that I needed to know-- things that I already knew, how to do. As much as they complimented and praised me, they still didn't add up to all the credit I should be given. I sighed once more, leaning against the wall next to Kane who still hadn't moved.

 

“You know, this is gonna be a tough nut to crack. Make a human robot that isn't human,” I scoffed, shaking my head and folding my arms. “I'll excuse that scare you gave me earlier when you said I should be afraid of you…. Like reading my mind or something… I'll pretend it was nothing. But anyway, have you learned to walk a straight line yet? I know it's only been a good forty-five minutes but….” He said nothing, just stared blankly ahead. “Yo, Kane, what gives? Are you still upset over Cale?” I looked at him, questioningly and slightly annoyed that he would still be worrying over his loss. He looked away. That was a yes.

 

“I'm sorry,” he apologized softly. “I won't bother you about it.”

 

“Hey, listen,” I said, putting my arm around his shoulders and heading out the door, “it's okay to cry. Just learn to eventually get over it. We can't be down and do work at the same time. Trust me, I've tried and it didn't work.” He sighed sadly.

 

“I know,” he replied, laying his head on my shoulder.

 

“Okay, now let's get to work!”

 

“I thought we were skipping work?” he asked, swaying slightly. Apparently the effects of the martini and vodka I had given him were far from wearing off.

 

“It's only 10:32 right now; we can start on it soon if we can't er… rest through the day.” He smiled.

 

“Alright.” I steered him towards the air elevator, past the desks and countertops filled with clerks working and typing rapidly, taking calls and rushing about, papers flying around behind them. Using Carey's identity once more, we took the elevator up past VIP access to the restricted labs, deciding to work with no spoken agreement.

 

“I don't know about you, but I'm nervous,” I admitted, shifting my weight from foot to foot and twisting long white hair between my fingers. Kane took my hand with his, stilling my actions.

 

“It's okay,” he reassured me with his soft voice. I nodded tentatively, eyebrows knit with apprehension.

 

“I've never been up here before…. I wonder if these labs are anything like the A and B level labs,” I wondered aloud.

 

“I haven't been up here either, but I don't think I'd worry. What's the worst thing they could do up here?” he asked as the elevator stopped, opening the blue diaphanous door to let us through. As soon as Kane stepped out, I knew there was trouble stirring. I could sense it.

 

“Kane,” I said curiously, alert, “I think something's wrong. It doesn't feel quite right.” He looked over his shoulder at me. I was still in the compartment, worried and anxious.

 

“It's okay,” he insisted, taking me hand and leading me gently into the hallway, despite his spinning vision. He wobbled a little, holding his head as we walked and stumbled slowly towards the second lab.

 

My heart was pounding in my throat, and I swallowed hard as Kane turned the door knob. There were no security systems, no nothing as I followed him into the room, his back obscuring my vision of what was inside. He stepped aside, gazing at what the contents of the room were. It was a sterilized white, with off grey floor tiles and low set light bulbs hanging overhead. I arched one brow in question. There lay a high tech computer next to two others in the far back and what looked like a suspended operating table in the center of the room. Along the walls were various shelves and cupboards with countertops and small spraying sinks to wash hands. Kane approached a cupboard, looking inside; I trailed behind to see that there were sheets of various metals: copper, tin, and iron, as well as boxes of screws, nuts and bolts, and nails. Another held small automatic machines that could bend, weld, flatten, twist or reshape and kind of material you wanted.

 

If we had to create a new species, we'd have to do some manual labor: placing plates together in machines and refilling screws and nails, although the mechanics were supposed to do that. I wrinkled my nose at the prospect.

 

“Should we get started?” I asked, walking past the stainless steel table and to the flat screen computers. No mouse or touch pad meant it was a touch screen.

 

“Yeah I guess so. You know where to start?” Kane looked to me as he rested on the table.

 

“With the frame I suppose. He wants complete construction of all organs too so… I'll start with a simulated skeleton,” I replied. I touched the screen and a program opened to an animation shop. There was an unsaved image of… something. But it was terminated before my eyes had properly adjusted to it for any longer than a second. It looked like a jaguar or leopard, but I didn't worry about it.

 

“I'll start on the organ placements,” Kane said decisively as he sat at the computer next to me and tapped the enter key. I nodded. “What the?” he asked softly in surprise.

 

“Hmm?” I began to plot the basic points for a human-like skeleton.

 

“There was…. a message,” he finished in a confused tone.

 

“A message?”

 

“Yeah. It only stayed a few seconds though before an error message came up and deleted it.”

 

“What did it say?” I asked curious, watching his screen as if expecting the message to reappear.

 

“It said something about `a new machine was created for the specific use of' and I couldn't read the rest.” My friend looked perplexed.

 

“Is it unsaved?” I asked, leaning over him toward the screen for an even better look.

 

“Yes. I can't find it through a search.” Kane was running a search and no files were found since several months ago.

 

“If it was important, we'd be able to find it easily, so don't worry about it. It might have to do with the leopard machine that was left unsaved in the animation shop,” I said, waving it away and setting coordinates for the skull. I did a quick image search to find an accurate image of the human skeleton and used it as a thumbnail. For a near two hours I worked, somewhat uneasy, but that feeling soon faded. I glanced up to find Kane placing a certain body part and a certain place.

 

“You sure we need genders?” I implored. Without batting an eye he replied.

 

“Only assuming some people want them for certain company.”

 

“He didn't want them so human like,” I said, propping my arm on his shoulder. Looking at me unamused, he let out a frustrated breath.

 

“Okay! But if people want a male or female specific companion, then I'm going to have to redo a lot of this!” I nodded.

 

I soon enough finished my skin of the human robot, taking care to make it imperfect and full of detailed flaws, but not looking like something undead or like something that wanted to die. I saved the file on a couple of servers in two different places. Because Kane was still busy working on the heart, I left him alone and searched the net instead. Finding an old picture of me in tight leather, pants unzipped far enough to reveal my leopard print thong from when I was sixteen, I just had to give myself a shameful grin. I was young, slender, with dark make up, short hair and painted sea green nails. One foot was up on a brick step that was surrounded by red brick wall; a trash can to the left. My black leather shirt had two midriff buttons that were snapped together. One hand in my hair, one touching myself, I looked flustered. I smirked, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth, urging me to display a broad grin as I transferred the picture to Kane's computer after tweaking the html a bit.

 

“I'm going to get something to drink,” I excused myself, standing up suddenly and sauntering out of the room. It was a known fact that at the end of every floor was a drink dispenser. Hooked to the wall on the right, only past Lab 1, was the glorious drink dispenser. Man had we had some good times before. Water substitute, coffee, and Coke were my only options. Grabbing a Styrofoam cup, I pressed the button for Coke. The sweet caffeinated liquid poured into my cup, nice, cold, and icy. Taking a drink, I sighed with contentment and started to turn back, wondering what Kane would say about the image I had sent him. As I stood in the doorway, about to comment on my pixilated form on Kane's screen, I felt a presence behind me. Whirling around, I found no one there; nothing but the empty hall greeted me as I stared down its lengths. Watching a moment to make sure no one would surprise me, I stepped into the room, closing the door behind me. Noticing my reappearance, Kane exited the window with the snapshot of me that had the caption “Remember the Good Times?”

 

“Hey what did you send me that for anyway?” he asked, brushing wily bangs away from his face, crossing his legs and spinning his chair around to face me. Lost in my own thoughts about what fearful thing was stalking me outside, I shook myself from my trance.

 

“Huh?” I wondered as I gulped down more of my soda. “What's it for? Well I usually drink Coke, so….”

 

“No, the picture you sent me,” he interrupted, blushing. “What was <i>that</i> for?” I smiled faintly before my smirk vanished. I swear I had just heard a low, nearly inaudible growl.

 

“Uh,” I started, eyes growing wide as a realization that what out there could be in here, hit me.

 

“Is something wrong?” Kane asked, looking at me sideways.

 

“No… no I'm alright,” I responded, shaking myself once more to shake away that foreboding feeling. Honestly though, I was starting to get nervous.

 

I sat back down at my computer, still concentrated on fabricating excuses of what was watching me.

 

“Yo! Jean!” Kane snapped his fingers in front of me.

 

“Yeah? Oh! Well, don't you remember the day I had that picture taken?” I said, still somewhat distracted. He rolled his eyes.

 

“You were drunk,” he scoffed, rubbing his arms before taking the drink from my mouth and taking a mouthful.

 

“You don't know where my mouth has been,” I said mockingly.

 

“You're such a tease,” Kane replied, setting down my cup. “Not like I care anyway.”

 

“You know I'm bi,” I crooned, twisting my fingers in my hair and resting my elbows on the desktop. That was meant to be a threat.

 

“So? I am too.” I laughed and shook my head. He was still inebriated. He would have to be to admit that.

 

“Aren't you still drunk?” He flashed a smile but said nothing. A good twenty minutes of silence followed as my companion fished his work; then stood, stretching.

 

“Finished?” I asked, standing up as he began to leave.

 

“Yeah. I gotta piss,” he said as if just noticing that he had to for the first time.

 

Leaving me behind, I had to follow him quickly to catch up, closing the door and catching his hand. There was a bathroom situated conveniently across from the elevator doors. It, being a one person bathroom, forced me to wait outside. A low moan rose softly in a murmur from within the room, arousing me faintly.

 

`Damn….. He has a sexy moan,' I thought as I stood, leaning against the wall for support. I myself almost felt drunk for having to confess that. I heard him doing Lord knows what before the lights flickered; nothing too noticeable— until it was nearly constant. Once the lights had gone out completely, I heard a gasp emit from the depths of the bathroom. The only window on this particular section on this particular floor allowed the only light that filled the room to filter inside through the dingy, rain stained glass.

 

Sighing because I had nothing to do now, I remained impatiently for Kane to emerge from the restroom. Green streaks mingled with blonde as he stepped out, his aquatic eyes questioning as he looked around for some sort of answer as to why the power had died.

 

“What happened?” he asked. “Suddenly the lights flickered out and my aim got slightly off.” I smirked.

 

“It's probably just a short power outage,” I shrugged. Unless we wanted to take every flight of stairs imaginable to mankind, we were stuck.

 

“I called for Dua to come find us and gave him our relative location,” the blonde told me as he reclined himself on the wall beside of me. Kane told me once that Dua stood for Druggie Under Age, which didn't really fit his silver and sky blue dragon at all, but hey, that was him. Then again I also hadn't expected Kane to be addicted to ecstasy or the hyped of version known as the love bug which came with little hearts on them.

 

Only a minute and a half later, Dua came whizzing and whistling by, zooming around the corner where the stairs were to perch himself in Kane's hand. Although Mecha-Pets didn't usually have genders, it was easier to call them a specific gender with whichever pronoun we preferred.

 

“What happened?” Kane asked Dua, stroking the small reptilian head.

 

“The power's out,” Dua replied, adopting a deep male voice.

 

“So I figured,” I said sarcastically, looking upward.

 

“I can check specifically,” he offered. Kane nodded.

 

“Please do. Jean and I have a project we need to have done by tomorrow.” Dua sped off in a rush of mechanical wings.

 

“You know, we probably don't need to worry,” I stated as I looked to my lab buddy. The lights flickered. “See? Power's already being restored.” Once, twice, three times, before they died again. Then once, twice and once more the light's fluttered.

 

The periodic method of the fluctuating lights, glowing and dying as if connected to half a circuit with a bad connection, reminded me of a heart's throbbing pulse. I watched in utter amazement at this spectacle, somewhat confused and fearful.

 

“Kane?” I started slowly, unaware that I was even clutching his arm for some comfort. A light bulb exploded, the fuse showering the window with incandescent sparks. I ducked to avoid air born glass as a light fixture on the opposite end of the hall erupted with shattering glass. Small electrical currents buzzed and sparked menacingly. I smelled burning copper as the lights began to throb constantly.

 

“In here!” Kane shouted, jerking me inside the bathroom by my upper arm. The sound of a small explosion reverberated through the concrete walls, achingly painful to my ears. Covers my face, I felt Kane's arm wrap around me, holding my body safely from harm with his. His heartbeat was oddly calm and therapeutic; it scared me. I was confused and trembling slightly, terrified that the thing stalking me had caused this.

 

“It's okay,” Kane soothed me with his low whisper, stroking my hair and moving it from my face, “I've got you.” It was dark, and I assumed that Kane had flipped the switch for the lights to be kept off in the bathroom because they hadn't exploded or flickered at all. His breath was cool against my neck as he held me close, caressing my shoulder softly. Why did something feel so wrong though? I crawled from his grasp, breathing deeply as I steadied myself against the door.

 

“We have to get to ground level.” I spoke, quivering, but maintaining most of my countenance. I heard Kane stand and felt him place a cold hand on my shoulder. It felt as if all warmth had left his body. Opening the door which had been barely thrown shut in our haste to seek a safe haven, my friend and I both fell through the doorway to find the hallway in a state of disorder and destruction. I had no clue how the labs fared, nor did I care. I only cared about finding shelter for myself; finding a place where I could figure things out without and threat of danger.

 

“The elevator's out of use for lack of electricity. We have to take the stairs,” Kane breathed down my neck, telling me the most obvious thing that could possibly come to mind.

 

“Okay,” I nodded, staring at the floor that was now littered with glass and dusty smoke. Cut circuits still buzzed as I carefully stepped around the empty, dark, and quiet hallway, following the wall with only my hands and my blinded senses.

 

“Be careful where you step,” I was warned as I found the open stairwell. The entire stairwell was plunged into darkness as we groped our way slowly down, breathing steadily through open mouths so that we may not disturb the silence.

 

“Stop,” Kane ordered, and abruptly, I did, standing as still as the cement around me, listening intently. I heard him whisper something and was about to ask what he had said when I heard a small whizzing sound and two little beacons of light appeared as if out of nowhere. Dua was back and his eyes glowed brightly, cutting back the premature midnight.

 

Chirping like a morning bird, he circled Kane's head several times before settling himself in a nest of blonde hair.

 

“A computer system was hacked at approximately 2:28:16:05 P.M. on Thursday the twenty-seventh. The R.A.D.A.R. Corporation's major server's power was cut. Because that was directly connected to the electrical supply, other than for the most private use, nearly all of the entire building is out of power. Top most files, labs, and computers in ultimate secrecy still maintain generator power,” Dua explained in his deep, masculine, robotic voice.

 

“A hacker?” I inquired with interestedly, turning to face the two companions. “Do they know who?”

 

“Identification access numbers include: X--9032, X-0012B, and x94207.”

 

“Fake no doubt,” I interrupted with a mutter, folding my arms.

 

“No verification for specific physical identification was included but the names Nani Cooth, Rae Booker, and Aileen Silverstein were used.” I nodded.

 

“What all was done to or within the confines of the server?” Kane asked, looking up to where the mechanical dragon was posed.

 

“The only damage detected to the server was a corrupted extension of files, some stolen hard drive memory chips, and eradication of evidence by erasing all files, accessories and applications used, restarting the central processing unit of the main server, and severing the power connection within R.A.D.A.R.'s buildings,” Dua concluded.

 

“What files were stolen? Don't we have copies of them?” Kane asked, shifting his weight to better comfort himself in his position. I remained quiet. The blue marked dragon replayed an authentic sigh.

 

“Classified information. I wasn't able to obtain data on that.” He flapped his wings a couple of times and continued to reside on his master's head.

 

“Let's keep going,” I urged. “We can discuss this on the way down. I'll call Mercy.” Pressing a return button on my remote control that served as a bracelet, I began to descend the never-ending roads of steps in the dingy hundred watt light.

 

“I bet Mercy could get the information we need,” I said confidently, looking back at Kane. He merely nodded with a distracted sort of smile. Pulling off one of my other bracelets I converted it to a scrunchie to keep back my snowy hair. I still had Kane's scrunchie so I offered it back to him once more. He kept it on his wrist instead of in his hair.

 

“So whoever stole this information must have something dirty in mind,” I said thoughtfully after a moment's contemplation, “or else Mr. Q would tell us what was missing and it wouldn't be a huge deal, just a minor set back.” `They aren't the only ones with something dirty on their minds,' I said to myself as I caught an awkward glance from Kane. He was blushing obscurely.

 

“But the only thing worth stealing is classified, unless they want to start their own robot business,” Kane reminded me.

 

“Yeah, but what would Mr. Q keep that was a secret? Unless he's planning something illegal,” I added, rather sarcastically.

 

“I don't know.”

 

We continued down the steps without talk, I bringing up my advanced holographic GPS on my bracelet. Following the map, I soon noticed that I would converge with my mischievous fox. I smiled as I turned a corner to find her.

 

“Hello Mercy!” I greeted her, sitting down on the spiraling steps to pet her. “Have you collected any information that Dua hasn't already told us?”

 

Mercy pointed her red metallic muzzle at the small sky blue and silver dragon whose beams moved as his eyes did. The light fluttered to my head along with the rest of him.

 

“I doubt it,” she purred, “because I couldn't gain any access to the duplicate server of the one that had crashed.”

 

“Why not?” I demanded, a little too haughtily than was intended. Mercy barked and danced away from me.

 

“Don't use that tone of voice with me young man!” she said with an upset motherly voice. Kane raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes, beginning to become impatient.

 

“Why not?” I sighed, still not any more polite. My fox scoffed at me.

 

“For the same reason even you can't!” With that said, she began to trot off.

 

“Follow her Dua and see what she finds. Try to find out anything else,” Kane ordered with some authority as his dragon took off, stretching metal fine metal wings.

 

“Great, there's our light,” I muttered in complaint as we were left in total darkness again. Even my hologram gave off a greenish glow, one which didn't help us at all in our predicament. I felt Kane as he touched my hand, finding me in the dark and grasping my hand with his. His felt cold, but not as cold as it did before. With one hand trailing on the wall, one being lead by my good friend, we continued down the slowly winding stairwell into the unknown. Nothing was spoken as we reached several landings, thanks to my map and the fact that the stairs only lead one way, not branching off. I knew these to be too far off to try to get farther down, and so we pushed on. We stopped to rest some time later, I turning my bracelet GPS off as we were close to where we wanted to be. I had calmed down considerable since our recent events, but I still had my doubts about what Mercy had told me and about the hackers and everything else that happened within the last near hour.

 

“I'm hungry,” I conveyed simply as my stomach gave a growl of protest against the lack of food since this morning.

 

“Oh really?” Kane asked, no doubt grinning as I could tell by his tone.

 

“Yes,” I confirmed, annoyed that he had to ask after I had just said that I was. I felt his arm snake around my waist, his right hand delicately turning my face towards his. I heard his breathing as he drew his face close to mine. He did<i> not</i> know when to quit, did he? I tried to stop him, but he was bared upon me so close that I could only pull at his clothes feebly.

 

“Kane?!” I exclaimed, his face next to mine as he laughed softly.

 

“Don't worry,” he whispered into my neck, “I won't <i>do</i> anything,”

 

Again he laughed, his hands turning colder against my flesh like ice, causing me to shiver violently at his unexpected touch. He kissed my throat, biting gently.

 

“Kane! Stop, you know you're my only partner,” I whined in protest, but to no avail. What was that supposed to mean to him anyway? He ignored my threats and went on with his harassment, overpowering me in his seduction. He leaned over me, half sitting in my lap as he pressed me against the wall, holding my wrists above my head with one hand.

 

“Don't be alarmed,” he murmured firmly. “Don't say a word.” He breathed softly next to my ear.

 

“Kane, what— mmm…” I was cut off as he cupped a hand over my mouth to hush me.

 

“Quiet. You'll see in a minute.” If I had had a watch if would have driven me crazy to listen to it slowly tick by. The minutes last forever it seemed before faintly I hear…. footsteps.

 

They approached, as if taking their time, and curiously, I listened. I assumed it was only an employee. But then again, if it were, they're either be rushed, or accompanied by at least one other pair. Assuming it was an employee of R.A.D.A.R. who was searching this side of the building for help or for another person.

 

“What's the deal?” I breathed, mouthed rather, into Kane's ear as he pressed tightly against me, inaudibly. He soundlessly shifted me closer to a corner in the wall, as far as he could get away from the steps without causing a disturbance. The footfalls sounded louder as they came closer, echoing around the otherwise empty stairwell. Kane breathed down my back, his forehead pressed upon the cold building's wall, right next to my neck. My heart rate quickened as whoever was down here drew closer. Suddenly, they stopped, and I could sense them standing before us. All was quite, and the silence was deafening, ringing loudly in my ears.

 

Kane's arm was still above my head, holding onto me strongly; his other arm around my waist. I could tell he was uncomfortable by the way he shifted in my lap. I was too, not to mention, <i>and</i> my butt was falling asleep. Moments passed and soon I started to convince myself that no one was there anymore, that it had only be some sort of hallucination. But then another set of footsteps could be heard, and this time they were accompanied by another. One sounded very soft, as if the person walking had leather shoes, but the other resounded in short clips as if they were wearing heels or hard rubber. Separate voices could be heard, one talking more than the other. The louder one sounded sly and girlish, but the other was soft and barely heard at all. They stopped their conversation before they had approached us, and where the first person was laying in ambush.

 

“A light?” a new voice asked, probably the first person's. It was rich and deep with authority and a superiority that made you believe that he was some sort of general giving game plans to his troops.

 

“Yes,” a soft feminine voice responded, and a small orb of piercing light cut through the darkness. Kane flinched as the light hurt our eyes; I blinked as my eyes focused slowly. There stood before us three very different people. The first one we had run into was the tallest of the three, if only by a half head, and wore a long white coat, trimmed in blue. He had about six pockets too many but I supposed that wouldn't have bothered him in the least bit. His dark brown shoes weren't any different than any others, and neither was his black turtle neck or his dark grey pants, but his wavy cascade of mint green hair shining silkily was odd, and it seemed to compliment his golden yellow eyes.

 

The one standing opposite him was the second person whom we had heard speaking earlier. A bandana covered her left eye over her short, auburn colored hair. She wore a simple black vest which zipped up the front. Her thick boots zipped up the sides as well, and her crisscrossed pink and black skirt had metal holes around the girth. Her brown eyes seemed to scorn us as she looked at us contemptuously. The last was the quiet young man standing between and behind the two, holding the light that shone in the palm of his hand. He had curious blue eyes that seemed fascinated at what he saw, his lavender streaked ebony hair falling gracefully around his shoulders and back. He wore knee high black leathers that laced up the front and a black ruffled mini skirt. Noticeable was also his white blouse which was open in a slanted V that came half way down his chest. He was broad shouldered, but the rest of his figure, his hands especially, seemed very delicate.

 

Kane let up on me enough to look suspiciously at the three strangers. A good few seconds passed before he stood up, pulling me up by the wrist that he had ensnared long ago. Dusting myself off and watching the three awkwardly, especially the quiet one who had trained his gaze on me, I pulled tightly next to Kane with a strong embrace. He stood protectively by my side, determination glaring in his eyes as he challenged the others to make a move.

 

“Well, who have we here?” the one to my right asked in his earth tone voice. It wasn't so deep, but pleasant.

 

“I say a witness. Betta' to be rid of `em!” the girl chimed in with an annoying and whiny sounding accent. The leader of them, the one like the general, chuckled.

 

“No,” came a soft reply, before Kane could demand an answer. Everyone's gaze turned to him.

 

“Wot you say?” bandana girl asked incredulously. The gentle one appeared to be struggling with his words.

 

“I want to see something about them,” he finally replied. The taller one sighed, his hand to his head.

 

“We'll take these two with us then,” he said, shaking his head, his hair showering and glimmering like millions of diamonds. The short haired one squeaked with delight.

 

“Where we gon' put `em?” she asked as she grabbed Kane's hand and jerked him forward.

 

“Do you mind explaining who you are before you decide what to do with us?” he asked savagely. The bell voiced man spoke.

 

“Yes I do mind!”

 

He yanked me gruffly by my wrist, pulling me from Kane's grasp.

 

“Hey!” I cried out. “That hurts!” My capturer shook his head and laughed.

 

“Bind them!” He directed the order to the raven haired one.

 

“It's okay,” he said to me, placing a soothing hand in mine. “Relax, I won't hurt you. Root will explain whatever his plans may be in a moment. Everything will be fine.” His eye contact was like a distraction, and soon I noticed that he had placed a coil of fine wire around my wrists. It was so light that I hadn't even felt it. The one he had called Root, the one with the white and blue coat, jerked the wire. It hurt my wrists, but didn't cut them.

 

“Wait just a Goddamn minute!” Kane retorted as the girl cackled, wrestling his hands behind his back. I could tell Kane wasn't close to an even match for her. Her arms showed that she worked out, though they weren't quite the size of a pro wrestler's.

 

The gentle one bound Kane as well.

 

“Do you mind?” I asked gruffly once more as Root pulled me along, stumbling up the stairs. I quickly found that resisting his pull wasn't a good idea, and surely enough, the strain from the wire did chafe and cut my wrists. Root just laughed coldly and yanked even hardly. Mumbling and complaining, he led me up the stairs in the exact direction that I didn't want to go. Kane had fallen silent as the red head took guard behind him, rambling on in her witchy voice about how she might cook him and eat him or hang him from her wall for decoration.

 

“I'm Yue,” I heard the third party member that we had met say very softly to Kane. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Kane nod, his jaw set as if he might never speak to any of us again. The newly introduced Yue stared at me.

 

“Here,” Root growled as we found a landing, two floors up. He threw open the door with a bang and led us into an empty computer room. The entire left wall was filled with windows; cubicles to work at surrounded the room. I stepped over scattered papers and a few coffee mugs as I was taken roughly to a room opposite of where we had entered.

 

“Ladies first,” Root said, shoving me and laughing once more. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Kane was followed by Yue and the girl.

 

“Hit sublevel 7 Gin,” Root said, lighting up a cigar and sticking it into the corner of his mouth, taking a great puff and sighing contently.

 

“Oi!” she responded as Kane elbowed her. “No `orse playin' victim! Less you wanna be hangin' by ya throat from me ceilin'!” She slammed the button. I found this was an elevator than ran on a pulley system.

 

Apparently some places in the building still had electricity getting to them.

 

“Wer' `ere!” Gin shouted, bounded from the elevator and down to the only door in the small, cold, grey room. There were several dim lights in the ceiling. “Ta dah!” she shouted and threw open the door. It banged into the wall, bouncing and nearly shutting after her. Root pushed me gruffly out of the boxy elevator and crossed the distance of several yards, following Gin into the room. Yue was right behind.