Fan Fiction ❯ Project Hellfire ❯ Episode One: Origins ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer:
I cannot be held responsible for lost or stolen property, melting brains, loss of sanity or limbs.
"Project Hellfire" is property of myself and myself alone. Any use of the characters, plot or virtually ANY plagerism of said fiction will be reported and swiftly acted upon.
Flames will be used to roast marshmellows.

Acknowlegments:
I'd like to thank Dan Hikibi and Razor Knight, of the Mediaminer Forums for being so kind as to let me screw with their personalities in the making of this fic.
Also, a big shout out to everyone on the General Mayhem forum for making my life so much more entertaining! I love you guys and I proudly dedicate this fic to you!

~*~*~*~*~



Project Hellfire
Created by Shasta

EPISODE ONE: "ORIGINS"


Am I.... dead...? This white light.......is this.......the light of Heaven....?


...No....


...I can see now....


...I'm in a hospital....at least, that's what I think it is.....my head hurts...my body's numb....I feel cold...


....Where am I...?


....WHO am I...?


.....This makes no sense.....



*****
"HOLY SHIT, I'M LATE!!"

The young red-head screaming in horror as her deep emerald eyes caught sight of the clock on her nightstand. She was going to be in serious trouble if she did'nt hurry...

Swinging her her legs over the edge of the bed, she sprang upright and made a mad dash to the bathroom ajoined to the bedroom. As she let the washbasin fill up with icy cold water, she glanced briefly at her reflection in the mirrored door of the medical cabnet.

A cute, tanned young woman stared back at her, slightly blurred around the edges. Her hair, a deep magenta red colour, stuck out in all directions in a mess of crumpled, tangled spikes that reached as far as the back of her knees.
Her eyes were wide, half hidden by a floppy fringe of pinkish-red spikes and her face was etched with an expression of panic.

Quickly, the young woman washed her face and neck, draining the wash basin before yanking open the medicine cabnet and pulling out a toothbrush and paste. After cleaning her teeth and practically marinating herself in deoderent, she ran back into the bedroom, flinging open her wardrobe and rumaging about in a panic for several minutes.

Finally, dressed in jeans and a purple halterneck top under a crisp white labcoat, hair tied into a crab-like mass of spikes, she pulled on her thin-rimmed glasses and grabbed her briefcase, slipping into a pair of black karete sandals before running like a shot out of the room, down a flight of stairs and out the front door.


A typical day in the life of Shasta Musashi, scientist, pervert and right now, a very tardy woman.

Catching the bus heading into Tokyo City, she would glance franticly at her watch every five minutes or so, wringing her hands as she squealed about what her boss could do to her..

Once the bus pulled up at the kerb on the corner of the buisness estate, Shasta wasted no time in running for dear life up a flight of stone stairs leading up into a large, fourty-odd storey building made of red-brick and emerald marble, Roman collumns flanking the enterence, over which a large banner displayed the company named as
"Hikibi Institute Of Science And Techknowledgy".

Racing inside, she skidded on the marble floor, past the receptionist's desk, towards the opening elevator doors..

CRASH!!

THUD!

"Lovely to see you too, Shasta.." a male voice sounded from beneath the red-head, dripping with sarcasm. Blushing with embarrassment, the red-haired scientist adjusted her glasses on her nose, peering into a pair of chocolate brown eyes.

"Gomen nasi, Razor-san! I...uh...slipped!" she said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

The muscular man beneath her chuckled and shifted slightly, trying to free himself.
"That's nice an' all, Shas... but could ya get off me?" hesaid with a frown, which quickly dropped into a devilish smirk.

"Unless, of course.... you're ENJOYING this...!"

Never in her life had Shasta sprang to her feet. Brushing off her labcoat, she fixed her hair and placed her hands on her slender hips, scowling down at the man on the floor who was now sitting up and grinning at her.

"Pervert.." Shasta muttered, shaking her head.

Razor chuckled and handed her the briefcase she dropped, getting to his feet. Pushing several waist-lenght strands of platium blonde hair out of eyes, his grin widdened and he tilted his head to one side, hand moving to rake through his hair in a flirteous manner.

"You're one to talk, what with all those images of naked purple haired bishounen on your comp-"

"RAZOR!"

The blonde man held up his hands in defense as the red-head yelled, eyes bulging and a small vein throbbing on her forehead. Groaning, she massaged her temples and headed into the elevator.

"I'm late for work, Raz. I don't have time for this!"

Just as the metallic doors were about to slide shut, the blonde haired man jumped in after her and leaned against the rail, looking at her with amusement.
"You're so uptight these days, Shas. Don't you ever take a vacation?"

Shasta turned to glance at him, her glasses reflecting the sheen of the metallic walls surrounding them.
"I would if I could, but if I wanna get promoted, I've gotta work my butt off... "she pushed the button labeled "Sub-Thirteen" and folded her arms over her modestly curved chest, a frown etched upon her features.

"Why does Fanilla have to get all the damn perks? I'm ten times more qualified than THAT bimbo!"

Razor chucked and glanced up at the mesh ceiling of the elevator, feeling it vibrate softly at his feet as it descented down the elevator shaft to the underground sub levels.
"Well, maybe it's because some of the....PERKS she possesses tend to please the boss a lot better than others, or so the rumors go.."

The red-head arched one finely-sculpted eyebrow at this.
"What rumours?"

The young man shrugged and glanced at his fingers, poking through a pair of fingerless red leather gloves, contrasting nicely with his all black outfit consisting of black jeans, sneakers and t-shirt.

."Oh, just that she's been sleepin' with the boss for about six months now and he's cheating on his wife with her..."
Razor said casually, glancing at his nails.

Shasta's eyes widdened behind her glasses.
"You lie!"

"I would never!" Razor gasped in mock-offense, placing a hand on his chest and pretending to look shocked.

"Man... what else is new?"the red-head said, leaning against the rail and glancing at her collegue with wonder.

"Did I mention that the bosse's sister is a porn star?"

~*~*~*~*~

All too soon, the elevator doors slid open with a soft whirr, leading out onto a dark, eerie-looking corridor somewhere deep below the surface of Neo-Tokyo.

It was dimly lit by several flurescent lightstripes located on the walls at either side, the light making Shasta's hair and labcoat glow neon in the semi-darkness.

The duo walked onward, heading towards a pair of double glass doors, renforced and heavly armed, leading into a large, bio-chemical laboritory, met with the sight of various laboritory equipment and chemicals of various colours sprawled across the worktops. A computer-come-high powered microscope sat on a bench in one corner and several jars of pickled frogs, rats and foetuses sat motionless on several shelves nailed to the wall. The lab was eerily quiet and it gave both Shasta and Razor a sense of forbodding....

"You ever been down here before?" Razor queried, causing Shasta to jump in alarm, scared out of her witts. Gasping, she backhanded the blonde man across the back of his head, growling.

"Goddamnit, Raz! Don't spook me like that!" she gasped, shaking her head. Razor gave her a cold look as he rubbed the back of his head before reverting his gaze to glance around the room.

"Nice place. If you're Dr. Frankenstein.." he said dryly, flinching at the sight of a strange, unidentified creature pickled in phymaldihyde that lay before him on a steel operating table.

"I wonder why they sent us down here....this place does'nt look like it's been used in years.." Shasta said, a note of disgust in her voice as she peeled a cobweb off her labcoat, wrinking her nose. Placing her hands on her hips she walked around the lab, wondering what her assignment for day could be...

Razor sighed, running a hand through his hair and leaning up against a worktop, creating an imprint of his body in the thick dust. "Don't ask me... I'm just a delivery boy!"

"This must be some mistak-AAAGH!!"

The blonde man jumped at the sound of his commrade screaming. Alarmed, he sprung off the worktop and raced to her aid, running head first into a mass of cobwebs, tangling himself in the sticky white threads.

"Shasta! What is it?! What's wrong?!" he yelled, voice echoing off the walls of the lab. He caught sight of Shasta, crouched back on her knees and looking horrified as she stared with raw fear in her emerald eyes at a large, dusty glass tank set into the wall.

"R...Razor....let's get...out..of...heeere...."she trembled, turned back to him, face drained of all colour.

Confused, Razor glanced at what had made her scream, his chocolate brown eyes running over the contents of the tank......his eyes widdened......a blood-curdling scream escaped his lips......


~*~*~*~*~


"So, Mr. President.. how would you like your coffee today?" a buxom young woman said, her voice soft and seductive as she sat on the edge of a large, mahogony desk strewn with paperwork, batting her silvery lashes at a tall man dressed in a black pin-stripe suit.

The man smirked, revealing a set of blinding white teeth, and pulled the woman into his lap, giving her ass a playfull slap.

"I thought I told you to call me 'Master Dan'!"he said in a low, feral voice, one hand resting on her hip while the other pushed several strands of platium blonde hair out of ruby red-eyes.

The curvy woman giggled and brushed her nose against his.
"I'm sorry.. MASTER Dan..."she glanced behind her at the coffee jug on the desk.

"So, would you like cream and sugar or just a dollop of honey?"

"I think.." Dan said, eyeing the vast amount of cleavage before him; "..I will have some Fanilla today!" With a playfull growl, he kissed her deeply, curling his strong arms around her slender waist.

Fanilla smiled into the kiss and ran her hands through his immaculatly groomed, ebony black hair. "You're the boss!"

He tugged on her bottom lip with his teeth, nipping her gently.
"Yes, I am and don't you forget it!"


BUZZZ!!

//Mr. Hikibi, a Ms. Minako is here to see you. She's right outside the door.\\ came an electronic voice from the intercom on the wall near the door. Cursing loudly, he ran a hand through his hair and lifted Fanilla off his lap.

"Remind me to shoot that receptionist!" he growled, amber eyes glaring at the intercom. Fanilla chuckled and buttoned up her shirt, pulling her purple buisness suit jacket back on and seating herself on the desk before him.

"Oh, hush! We can finish this later at the beach-house!" she cooed, sticking her tongue out at him as she piled her silvery-blonde hair up into a messy bun, held in place by two pencils.

Right on cue, the office door swung open, a tall woman standing in the door frame.
She looked around twenty or so, maybe two or three years older, and her slender form was practiclly poured into a tight blue mini-dress that stopped just inches from her crotch, toned legs clad in white leather knee high boots.

Her hair, bubblegum pink in colour, was a mass of tight corkscrew curls and several strands fell into a pair of timeless lavender eyes, a smile etched upon her face.

"Good afternoon, Dan!" she said, her voice high and floaty, making her sound too much like a naive schoolgirl to pass for twenty..

The raven haired man growled, eyes narrowing. "Hello, Minako.." he said as sweetly as possible through gritted teeth, angered that his little moment with his secretary was well and truely ruined. Turning to said secretary, he inclined his head to the door.

"Fanilla, you're dismissed.... but, I'll be seein' you later, sweetcheeks!" he added with a click of his teeth as he made a gun shape with his hand, winking. Fanilla chuckled, rolling her eyes as she exitted the room, closing the door behind her.

Pulling a cigar from one of the drawers in his desk, Dan motioned for the pink haired woman to seat herself in one of the ottomans before him as he lit up the foul-smelling cancer stick.

"So, dear little sister, what brings you to Tokyo?" he said roughly, taking a dreg of his cigar and exhaling a ring of dark grey smoke.

Minako smiled even more, clasping her hands together.
"I have great news, big brother!"

"Let's hear it.." he said in a bored voice, flicking cigar ash into an ashtray by his hand and looking quite impatient.

"I'm moving to the city!"

Dan almost choked on his cigar, eyes widdening in horror, turning blue with shock.
"WHAT?!?!"

Minako sprang out of her seat and promptly flung her arms around her brother, hugging him tightly as he struggled fruitlessly to free himself.
"Is'nt this great?! We can see each other more often! I could come you and we can hang out together! Oh, this is gonna be so awesome!" she squealed, nuzzling against him.

"Yah..whoo-hoo....zippidity do dah and all that crap.." Dan muttered sarcasticly, silently cursing God for ever letting this woman..the very embodiment of the word 'annoying' re-enter his life again...



Back in the lab...



Razor sank to his knees as his legs failed him, disobeying the direct order from his brain, telling them to run. He glances at Shasta, a look of horror and intermingling shock etched upon his face.

She said nothing, her eyes wandering back to the ....CREATURE....in the tank...

Shrowded in darkness, the creature was only just visable in the dim light of the lab, but even so, it was still a grotesque sight. What little of it's face that was on display was covered in corse, wolf-like red fur, jaw disorted and twisted out of shape, containing a mass of rotting teeth, pointed and elongelated.

A bare chest could be seen, covered in various scars and scrapes that were surrounded by decaying skin and maggot-infested fleash.

Whatever this thing was, it was well and truely dead.......?

"What...is...that...thing...?" Razor gasped, raw terror evient in his voice as he backed away slowly, eyes wide and unblinking, unable to tear themselves away from the morbid view before them.

"I don't know, Raz.. I don't kno-"

WHIRRRRR.....

The duo screaming in fright, jumping into a fear-hug at the sound of mechanical whirring, caused by a large bullet-proof steal shutter that was discending from the roof, blocking the exit, closely followed by several more sheilds, effectively sealing the pair inside the laboritory.

"Whu-what?! The defense system! Oh no!" Shasta yelped, detaching herself from Razor and running towards the doorway, which was now rendered useless, replaced by a solid wall of titianium. Despair etched across her features, she banged hard on the steel, the sound of her fist conecting with the sheild reverberating around the lab.

"It's no good.. we're locked in.....and in this hellhole, no less..." Razor sighed, shuddering as the thought of spending the night in a place Dr. Frankenstein would consider 'cosy' being a prospect he was dreading.. With a groan, he let his knees go and slumped to the floor, huddling against a wall with his knees to his chest.

The red-head banged again on the shield, but it was no use. Apart from the throbbing pain in her fist, there seemed to be no result whatsoever of her efforts.
Bowing her head, her body shook involentarily and she placed her hands on the metal, forcing back a scream.

She was trapped in this dark, disturbing place with little chance of a quick escape...

"Shasta..."

Razor's voice cut the uneasy silence that fell on them both, the sound echoing off the plascrete walls. The red-head turned at this, her eyes looking glass under her thin-rimmed specticles, face pale and devoid of both colour and expression.

Letting out a deep breath, she slumped down beside her friend and ran a hand through her mass of pinkish-red spikes, closing her eyes and reminding herself to breathe as she felt her chest tighten with the onset of clausterphobia..

The blonde man spotted the warning signs and wasted no time in taking her by the shoulders, holding her at arms lenght as he stared intently at her.
"Don't panic.. we're gonna get out... it's probably just a bug in the system. They'll send a repairman to investigate and we'll be rescued... just calm down..."

Shasta looked at him, her eyebrows knitting in fear, eyes adverting her gaze from his.
"But-but what if they don't find us..? Nobody ever comes down here anymore..."she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"Then all we can do is hope."

~*~*~*~*~*~


Minako grinned to herself, skipping a little as she headed down the hallway towards the elevator. She was simply delighted at the prospect of spending more time with her only sibling, even though that very sibling hated and despised her right down to every last fibre of DNA in his body...

#I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts.. diddly dee dee... there they are, standing in a rooww..# she sang as her heels clicked on the smooth linolem floor. Soon, she was standing before the elevator, her cute face reflected in the stainless steel doors.

"Oh, I'm so glad he took the news well!" she squealled, clasping her hands together and boucing on the balls of her feet, happy as pie. As the doors slid open smoothly, she skipped inside and pressed a random button without looking, her happiness clouding her better judgement.

"Whee! I'll finally be able to see Danny-boy more often!"she cooed, her eyes sparkling in adoration for her brother. Minako idolized Dan in many ways, looking up to him as a mentor.
Having spent most of her childhood bouncing back and forth from foster homes like a yo-yo, she had finally secured a home in the city close to were her only sibling resided after a long struggle to find and hold down a job.

Now a world famous hardcore porn star, she was finally happy at her position in life. (no pun intended!)She was making good money, she was famous and now she was back with her only family. Life was good for the young pink haired woman...

As the elevator boot descended smoothly down the shaft, she let her mind wander to many random thoughts, mostly about playing frisbee on the beach not far from Dan's summer home..

She was completly and utterly oblivious to her sibling's blantantly obvious distaste towards her....

DING!

The doors opened out onto a dimly lit corridor, illuminated by red warning lights flashing on and off at random.
"Oooh, pretty!" Minako squealed, skipping down the hallway as she paid no mind to where her feet took her...




Razor's eyes snapped open..

How long have I been asleep? he thought, rubbing the sand from the corners of his eyes and stetching widely, a yawn escaping his lips.

Blinking as his vision came back into focus, he was mildly disappointed to find that he was still trapped inside the disused laboritory, made all the more sinester looking now that the glass walls were covered by inpenatrable titanium barriers, effectively sealing him in and making the lab look even darker still by blocking out the light of the latterns in the corridor..

As he wondered what it was that woke him, he was suddenly aware of a weight in his lap. Rubbing his eyes again, he glanced down in curiousity...

Shasta was fast asleep, her head in his lap and currently soaking his..er..."happy place" in a small amount of drool that oozed from her half-open mouth, as well as a soft, purring snore.

"GYAH!!"

Razor's eyes widdened, tanned skin turning tomato red as a hot blush spread like wildfire across his face as he looked down at her. From that angle, it almost looked like-

"Nyuh....don't wanna go to school.." the red-head mumbled, blinking in her sleep and shifting slightly, her head now resting on his stomach.
Sweatdropping, Razor very gently placed his hands under her head and lifted her up, positioning her to lean against wall next to him.

She did'nt seem to sense him, as she soon went back to snoring her brains out.

Looking down at his lap, Razor ran a hand through his silky locks of golden hair and chuckled embarrassedly to himself.
"I don't even wanna think what this looks like.." he muttered, getting to his feet and walking around the lab in search of something to dry off the drool with.

After cleaning himself off with an old rag found on one of the worktops, Razor sat back down beside his companion and sighed, running a hand through his hair.
. His chocolate brown eyes scanned the walls absently.... the paint , once pearly white and spotless, was now yellowed, chipped and fading, cracked in several places.

He glanced over at his companion and shook his head, watching her sleep. She looked peaceful and calm, as opposed to the over-worked, highly stressed woman she was in her waking hours.
Her hair having fallen free of it's ponytail, the fire-engine red strands framed her face gently, several hanging in her closed eyes and across her nose.

Absently, Razor reached across and brushed them away, his fingertips barely grazing her skin.
He smiled softly..

"Mmmmm....... R...Razor....?"

Emerald eyes flickered open slowly, blinking up at him with sleepy confusion.
Shasta let a soft yawn escape her lips, stretching her muscles and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Yah, it's me...welcome back to the land of the living.." he whispered, helping her up as she slowly got to her feet. Blinking herself awake, the red-head brushed off her lab coat and glanced around at her surroundings.

Same old creepy laboritory...

"Oooh, what does THIS button do?"

A voice outside alerted them both to their senses. Rushing the steel shield over the main door, the duo banged hard, yelling at the top of their lungs.
"Hey! If anyone's out there-"

WHIRRRRRRR!!

Suddenly, the titanium sheilds slid up with lightning speed, causing Shasta and Razor to jump back in alarm. As the sheild went up, they were met with the sight of a rather confused looking pink haired woman in a VERY short dress peering at them with wonder through the glass windows.

"Um.. hello there.." the pink haired woman said, grinning awkwardly and waving through the glass.

"M.......Minako Hi...kubi...?!" Razor gasped, his eyes going wide.

"You know her?" Shasta queried, scratching her head in confusion.

The blonde man bit his lip, grasping his companion by the arm, his eyes sparkling with the look of a fan boy just waiting to glomp someone..

"Mmmhmm! That's..... Minako...Hikubi.....three times Playmate Of The Year..!" he said in a tiny, breathless voice that was at least three octaves higher than normal.

The woman at the window turned away from them, pressing a few buttons on a panel obscured by a stone collumn supporting the ceiling outside.
In an instant, the laboritory doors slid open smoothly and she stepped inside.

"Um, hi there! Are you guys okay? I was just wandering around down here an' I pressed a few buttons...then, the metal door thingys slid up..." Minako said, looking confused.

In a flash, Razor was before her, shaking her hand vigorously.
"Hi! This is Shasta, I'm Razor, but you can call me Hon-OUCH!"

He flinched as Shasta clipped him around the ear, looking irrtated.
"Razor, stop acting like a horn-dog!" shaking her head, the red-head turned to the woman in her wake and let a sheepish smile grace her lips.

"Don't mind him. A horny lil' fucker is he...so, you say you're wandering around down here? Do you have clearence or are you just lost?"

Minako grinned cutely, smoothing out her dress.
"Oh, no... but my brother's head of the company, so I figured it'd be okay if I took a look around...so, um...are you a scientist type person?"

//Stating the obvious, are'nt we?// Shasta thought, eyes narrowing slightly. Forcing a smile, she nodded and pointed to the slightly faded silver name tag pinned to her left breast pocket, reading Dr. Shastania Arailani Musashi, Biotechnicion.

"Yah, I'm a scientist and this here's Razor.. the limp-wristed delivery boy."

Minako grinned sweetly, flashing them both a set of very white teeth, one professionally manicured hand stuck out and glinting with expensive-looking silver rings.
"Nice to meet yo-"

Hiiiiiiiiiizzzzzz......

Whiiiiiiiiiirrrrrr.....
CRUNCH

The shields had gone down again, trapping the trio in the lab for the second time.

"Shit!! They musta been on a time release.." Razor muttered, momentarily snapped from his bout of dribbling fanboy-itis. Running a hand through his long, sandy blonde hair, he let out a flustered sigh and glanced around.

Same old, inescapable, creepy ol' lab...

"What's that sound?" Minako said, tilting her head to one side, neon pink curls boucing as she did so. Pausing in their tracks, Shasta and Razor blinked twice and glanced around once again, straining their ears.

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiizzzzzzzz.....

"Sounds like a burst oxygen cylinder or-" Razor started, only for Shasta to turn as white as a sheet, eyes wide and alert..

"-GAS!"

Ever the airhead, Minako scratched her head in confusion and sniffed the air.
"It was'nt ME!"

Suddenly, the already-stale air was filled with the putrid stench of sulphur and anestesia...there was no escape from the pale yellow mist that crept, like a foul, shapeless monstrosity from the air vents, extending it's long, foul tenticles to encircle the trio's necks, suffocating them of air and dragging them all down into the endless black abyss of darkness... choking them of oxygen....


To Be Continued...