The locale of the floating colony was beautiful, Kazuma had to admit. With the clean brick streets, various rails that looked akin to roller-coaster tracks, and fresh greenery, the entire area looked like a modernized Greek paradise come to life. What was the term he heard before? Oh yeah....
The uglier something is, the prettier the mask they use to hide it.
Kazuma and Byaku stepped down from the stairway carefully, straining their ears to make sure the erratic screeching from earlier was well and truly gone. Their footsteps made small clacking noises on the white bricks of the road, something which annoyed the former very heavily.
The only other thing Kazuma had in his possession, other than his new gun, was a gauntlet like accessory attached to his left hand. He'd stolen it from an attacker he'd killed a couple of hours ago, something he was glad he did. Apparently the rails that were in the air functioned as a sort of impromptu transportation system that allowed anyone to ride them like a roller coaster. While the risk of doing so was relatively high, especially with the fact that they were on a FLOATING colony, the fact that it sped things up immensely caused people to treat it as a part of everyday life.
Byaku, being some kind of Newtype IS hybrid thing, obviously didn't them. If she so wanted, she could probably just fly away by summoning her wings or shoot anyone down with the flick of a finger. He didn't exactly understand what made her so pacifistic that she was willing to partner with someone who she never fully trusted.
"Hey, there it is," Kazuma ran forward and leaned across the rails, pointing up at the floating castle like structure. Unlike the other buildings, which had plenty of railings surrounding them, the building was cut off from most of the main island and was attached to it simply by a flimsy chain. "The research lab. Once we're there, everything will be- Byaku?"
She was gone. He cursed to himself and checked his gun, observing the area around him carefully. He didn't hear anything out of the ordinary earlier, and he was certain he didn't hear any screeching, so who the hell could have taken her? He couldn't allow her to disappear now that they were so close to the-
Did he hear singing?
"Hus little baby, don't say a word~ Mama's going to buy you a mockingbird~"
"..Son of a...." The voice was coming from one of the open gates. He walked quickly towards the source of the voice, trying to ignore the twitch that he was beginning to develop.
The area beyond the gate was devastated, to say the least. While the outside looked like something out of a Utopia, the inside looked more akin to what would happen when a Utopia was placed in the same room as a bunch of insane pyromancers. Various trees and foliage lied burn onto the ground, the flame that destroyed them having long been extinguished. Traces of blood smeared the clear grass, though the bodies they presumably came from were mysteriously absent. The strong smell of gunpowder also hung in the air.
The thing that garnered his attention most, however, was the event at the center. Byaku was kneeling on the ground, humming a soft song with her eyes closed and a small smile on her face. On her lap was a horse, or at least the head of a horse. The rest of its body was coated in dark blood and part of its side was missing, exposing the internals within. The fact that it was still alive was either through pure luck or pure determination. Kazuma figured it was a bit of both.
"Byaku, don't run off and do stupid things," Contrary to his words, he knelt down and examined the horse carefully,'Hmm, it's lost too much blood at this point. Even if we make for a Vet now, which I really don't plan doing, there's no way for it to get there without it dying of blood loss. It's dead one way or the other.'
"It's too late for it," He cocked the hammer of the pistol back and aimed it at the horse's head, "It'll be easier for it if we speed it along-"
"Wait, wait!" She held her hands up and pushed the gun away, "I...I can induce a temporary shield that should allow it to regenerate some of its skin. L-Like what happens to pilots when they get too injured."
"Byaku, it's just an animal. Animals die all the time," He was beginning to lose patience here. They didn't have time to waste being good samaritans.
"And how would you know that?" Byaku narrowed her eyes at him, "Does a test tube experiment know how life works now? You were made to kill people at a snap of a finger! You don't even know what being alive means!" Her eyes widened significantly as she said the last word. She didn't mean to go as far as that.
"So says the robot that's clinging to whatever fake humanity she has..." His voice had a nasty tone to it, "Do what you want. We're close to the lab anyway, so I won't have to see you again after this."
Byaku nodded and muttered a phrase to herself, activating part of her abilities, "Activate emergency shielding, protocol 10, "Her arm started to glow a bright blue, "Focus on injuries and activate nanomachines. Activate for 60 seconds and heal the targeted user," Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand gently on the horses body.
The effects were immediate. A deep blue glow had overtaken the horses entire physique and the bloodstains immediately started disappearing. The huge gaping hole, which had taken most of the horses left side, was now shrinking at a rapid pace.
Kazuma watched the scene with narrowed eyes. While the effects of the healing were miraculous, he had his doubts that it would be so convenient. She was made for fighting, whether she cared to acknowledge it or not. He knew better than anyone that the IS were made as weapons of destruction and intimidation. There had to be a catch here.
He was right.
"Neeeeeeeiiiiiiiggghhhhh!" The horse started buckling under her frantically, nearly knocking the the silver haired girl onto her back. Miraculously, her hand hadn't moved from its place at all, "Neeeeeeiiiiiigghhhh!" It buckled again, even more frantic this time. Kazuma began to wonder why till he noticed it.
It's body was decaying.
The brown skin was dissolving, going from a healthy brown to a pale gray in just a few seconds. He could actually see the horse's body decay and rot away right before his eyes. The light she had been using had turned from a relaxing blue into a sickly crimson red, as if signifying the change.
He was knocked out of his reverie by the sound of Byaku's struggling, "Byaku, close it. Deactivate it now!" He ran forward and grabbed her by the shoulders to try and pull her off, "Close it before it gets worse!"
"I-I'm trying!" She closed her eyes and muttered the code word to herself. The light from her hands dimmed temporarily before coming back in full force, "I-I can't close it! And my hand won't come off!"
"Damn it!" Kazuma took a deep breath. The horse was dying, there was nothing he could do about that. But the light was expanding, and they'd have to face worse if it was seen from outside the area. Even now he could see the grass around them turning brown and rotten like the poor animal.
"I-I don't know what to do-"
He didn't let her finish, "Pull!" His unarmed hand grasped hers tightly. The hand that was still stuck on the now long gone animal was being pulled forcefully. Byaku's eyes widened at the contact. It wasn't due to shyness or some other such nonsense, but concern.
His hand was decaying.
Through the long sleeves of the turtleneck, she could see his healthy skin turn a dull gray and his veins begin to expose and wither. Right next to her, she could see his face turn into a grimace and his mouth open in a silent scream. He had to do this, else the light would increase and the decay would spread all around them.
"Kazuma, don't!" She tried to push him off, but he ignored her and continued the frantic pulling, "Your hand is dying! And if you don't take your hand off right now, the rest of you is gonna follow!"
"Just.......shut it off!" He managed to force out through gritted teeth. Truthfully, he really did feel like dying. His arm felt like it was being cut open and then re-stitched clumsily over and over. The strength of his fingers were also weakening, making him afraid his hand would snap right off.
"O-Okay!" She closed her eyes again and started muttering, "Emergency shutdown....blocked! Re-routing to auxiliary feed and accessing nanomachine shutdown," There was a slight pause before she continued, "...Granted! Shutting down main nanomachines."
"You might wanna hurry!" Kazuma was beginning to feel lightheaded. The corruption had spread all the way up to his elbow now, though it didn't come without its benefits. The light, whatever the hell it was, had decided that his arm was a better target and focused most of its energy on it rather than him. The light had also died down due to this, so they were no long at risk of being spotted.
Byaku nodded frantically, "Shutting down main and emergency backups. Permanent override needed," Kazuma cursed inwardly as he could feel his vision swimming, "Bypassing override and accessing temporary failsafe. Acknowledged, nanomachines shutting down in 3, 2, 1....."
Quick as a flash, the red light had disappeared without a trace. Unfortunately, due to their momentum, the pair ended up pulling forcefully on a hand that was no longer resisting. Too much pulling plus excess force equals bodies being stuck in a heap.
Byaku and Kazuma lay down onto the grassy floor, looking up at the clear blue sky up above. The former was unintentionally laying on top of the former like one would a love or a close friend. Even through all that happened, she had to admit that she found the position slightly relaxing.
"Get off me!"
Okay, maybe not so much.
Kazuma used his left hand and pushed her forward forcefully, nearly dropping the white haired girl face first onto the grassy soil. She was half-ready to give a heated retort back at him before she remembered what he just did.
".....So much trouble..." He groaned in pain and rubbed his aching ribs with his left hand, making sure to keep his injured hand free, "Whoever designed you to not be able to recede your wings fully must've been a real sadist. My chest feels like it got hit by a jackhammer."
Amazingly, he wasn't commenting at all at the state of his nearly blackened hand. Byaku herself was ignoring his complaints and focused solely on the nearly dead appendage.
"Kazuma, what about your-"
"Don't worry," He interrupted her, "The regeneration should kick in, in a bit and it'll be back to normal before we have to go through another one of you little good samaritan acts," He gave her a half lidded stare, "Maybe we should help the needy beggars or find a cure for every sickness that plagues the world next time. Would that make you feel better?"
Byaku had to hold back the tears. She screwed up, that was plain to see, and now he was rubbing it into her face that she should've listened to him. A part of her felt like agreeing with him on that, but an even greater part told her she wasn't wrong. She wasn't a machine made for killing. She could help people.
"Do you have any idea what would've happened if that thing wasn't stopped? You could've exterminated this whole city without even meaning to," He gave a bitter smile, "You called me someone who kills at the snap of a finger before. i guess we're not so different after all."
"Don't compare me to you!" She stood up and glared at him, "At least I tried to help him! You're content to just sit there and watch people suffer as long as it doesn't involve you. You don't care about anything but killing!"
"And what does trying do, huh?" He stood up and glared at her eye to eye, "You tried to help the horse and you ended up making it suffer even more. You tried to be something you're not and you ended up just proving my point. Byaku, trying isn't worth anything here! Anybody could say they tried to fix things, but it doesn't matter when nothing happens and you end up making things worse!"
"So that's it then? You're not willing to do anything unless you're sure you'll succeed?" She gave an ironic laugh, "What else should I expect from someone who's been bred to follow orders completely? I bet you let Ichika die just because you weren't ordered to save him-"
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Kazuma gave her a glare of pure hatred and smashed into her, knocking her down onto the ground. Even if they were just the same height, he had no problems knocking the humanoid IS off her feet.
"I didn't want to let Ichika die! I crawled on my hands and knees and forced myself to go to him, even if I was scared!" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "I begged him to stay even when he was bleeding out. You know what I did? I tried! And it was all pointless!"
"It wasn't pointless!" She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him lightly, "Trying and failing to do something doesn't make it pointless! It's better than standing by and watching something without even trying to do something about it!"
"Yes it was! No matter what I tried to do, Ichika ended up dying! He's gone, and now I'm stuck here with no idea what I'm supposed to do..." Kazuma refused to look her in the eye, but she could make out tears at the edges of his eyes, "All I can do now is try to stop whoever killed him and make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't have much else..."
Byake didn't know what to say. She figured the clone for some kind of homicidal murder machine. A monster who only thought of his next target and how his next order should be fulfilled. While she didn't mean to say her insults to him out loud earlier, not a single part of her ever doubted it to be the truth. There was only one thing she managed to remember from her books when it came to situations like this.
"...Hey, what are you doing?"
Her arms were circled around him, wrapping him in a comforting embrace. He felt himself shivering slightly at the gentle contact. The closest thing he remembered to contact like this were the rare times Ichika carried him when he was still small. Young wouldn't have been the right term to describe him.
"I heard that this is something people did to others when they feel sad," She tightened her hold slightly, "I don't know if I'm doing it correctly. Tell me if it feels uncomfortable or anything."
"..." He didn't say anything. They just stood there for a couple of minutes, standing like a couple of idiots in the middle of a half decayed garden. He was half-aware that they were completely open and were liable to get shot, but he really didn't care at the moment. He just felt oddly comforted by the odd contact.
"...Thanks..." He pushed her by the stomach gently and motioned for her to let him go, "I'm sorry for yelling earlier. It was pointless and wouldn't have really done anything."
"Uh...Y-Yeah, I'm sorry too," For some odd reason, her cheeks were glowing an odd light blue. Was this some form of blushing or heat dispensing? Well, he shouldn't really question it. It was bad enough that he didn't know how in the hell a WMD turned into a human/humanoid. He didn't need to worry about anything else concerning her.
"Now we just need for my arm to regenerate," He held up the slightly less blackened limb, "I can't fire a gun without it."
She was about to make another apology till she stopped. Stopped and stared at the bizarre process of his arm healing itself. The rotten limb was inflating again, as if freshly pumped blood was being fed directly to it. The dead skin fell in odd flakes towards the ground, only to be replaced with healthier skin soon afterwards. It was as if she was watching a miracle.
"Hmm, Faster than I expected," He flexed the limb carefully before tearing of the sleeve of the turtleneck up to the elbow. It had corroded as well, "Still, I guess I shouldn't complain. This should stop people from staring."
"H-How did you do that?" She pointed excitedly at his now regenerated limb, "That was almost instant! If everybody could do that, think of what would happen!"
Kazuma poked her on the forehead, albeit gentler than usual, "All clones have it, not just me. Most of the female clones probably have a more advanced version implanted in them. Since I'm a reject clone, I've only got the basic parts. Besides, having this isn't completely good."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I mean this thing is shortening what time I have left," He sighed and picked up the dropped gun, "I've got 20 years installed in me before my body shuts down. I'll start rapidly aging when I reach 18 till I reach practical old age when my body shuts down," He turned back to her, "My healing factor speeds up the process, but for how much I don't really know."
"20 years....." She tried to imagine having that time limit hanging over her head. She couldn't. It felt scary, knowing when she was going to die, "How....How old are you now? I mean, you look my age now, but-"
"13 years old," The nonchalance in which he said that caused her to flinch. It was as if he didn't care about the giant timer on him. She couldn't imagine knowing 7 years was all she had left. 5 if she counted the rapid aging, and even less if his explanation on his healing was true.
"A-Aren't you worried!?"
"About what?" He gave her a questioning stare, "If I can't stop whoever killed Ichika in 7 years, then I can't stop them even if I had 70 years. The time limit doesn't really concern me at all," He went past her and tapped her on the shoulder lightly, "Besides, I'm kinda comforted by it. I have nothing much to do ro live for after they're gone, so it's alright. Don't let it concern you."
"I should be concerned!" She ran up to catch up to him, "I mean...I'm your partner now. I don't want you dying on me."
"If we're lucky, we'll be on our separate ways the next 7 hours, so worrying about the next 7 years is pointless," He busied himself with re-checking the pistol.
"T-That's....." She couldn't offer a rebuttal. He did make a good point, however. Once they reached the lab, she would give him the data and be free while he would pursue his own agenda. There was no reason for her to worry about what happened to him.
"Besides, didn't you say earlier that I didn't know what it meant to be alive? I guess there was some truth to that statement after all..." It was a joke. Not a particularly good one, but a joke nonetheless, "Come on, we should get to the lab quickly. We shouldn't waste any more time."
Byaku just nodded and took a deep breath. Things were complicated now, and she had a feeling they were going to get worse.
2012-09-29, 10:07
