Cut-Off
Disregarding the dull pain in his foot, he kept on going for the next hour without a single minute’s break. Nevertheless his progress was slow. There was a complete lack of light and no switch anywhere. He was forced to assume that Aratron already knew of his position, and yet he had no other choice but to go forward, feeling rather like a lab rat.
Once he became fed up with the tedium of the darkness he sat down for a moment and tried to think about the next course of action.
His last plan ended up in failure. He didn’t manage to get out of the house or to get the Birdbrains killed. Even worse – his heart skipped a beat – they knew how he looked like.
That was bad. That was so bad. Sousai will be furious once he would find out. That was just so bad. He won’t be able to explain this one, even though it wasn’t his fault. Sousai was not interested in excuses.
But why? Why did this happen? Everything was going according to plan. Even though I was shot down, I had a plan for that as well. Although I arranged everything, although I went through every possibility, the Science Ninja Team knows my face and there is… something… inside of me.
But that’s fine. It’s fine. I’m fine. I can still pull through. It didn’t have any effect on me. Maybe because of my different genetic make-up. It didn’t-
Oh, didn’t it now? The blood didn’t taste very kosher, did it?
This made him remember.
The chills.
The vertigo.
The crash. The reveal of his true face. The piece of plexiglass, jabbed into his chest. His inability to reach anyone. His inability to escape. His inability to kill the Science Ninjas. His inability to kill the monsters. His inability to please Sousai.
His inability to keep the world from constantly stomping with its muddy boots on his face.
How did it ever come to this? Why is all this happening to me?
He got up.
“Hey, Aratron. Can’t you at least turn the lights on?” he asked softly.
He needed at least something, even a little thing like light. Or someone to listen to his requests.
Yet the darkness persisted.
“… please, just turn the lights on…”
There was about a minute of silence when he didn’t move an inch, didn’t blink. Didn’t even breathe. It was terminated by a thud. He hit the wall with his fist. The thud was followed by footsteps. He decided it was for the best if he moved on. At least his mind would be occupied by counting steps and saying ‘left and right and left and right’.
At least I managed to escape…
He thought to himself, trying to make some light of the situation.
Yes, escape. That’s all you ever do. That’s all you can do. You can’t even stay to face the consequences. Isn’t this sad or what? Why don’t you just stay and do something? Face the opponent? Show some guts?
He wanted to retort with something witty, but a picture of himself, bound in shackles and wearing an orange overall, came to his mind instead. The lukewarm defence of his advocate. The judge, giving him a twentyfold life-sentence. Finally a glint, a crack, a splatter.
…no. Sousai would probably nuke the whole city first.
He thought to himself grimly. In a situation like that, it was obvious to him that Sousai would not want to take any risks, even when it came to his Chose One; not to mention that by the time he would stand trial, he would also become completely worthless to the Syndicate. A liability, fated to be disposed of.
While his mind was preoccupied by the misfortune that befell him, his fingers found an aberration. The wall he held his hand against came to an end. There was a depression, filled out by hard wood. Soon he found a round knob which felt soothingly cool against his palm. Somewhat unexpectedly the door was unlocked as well, so he could let himself in. He didn’t feel happy about it, or relieved. He didn’t feel anything in particular. Just exhaustion.
Author's Chapter Notes:
All Science Ninja Team characters belong to Tatsunoko Productions
Chapter End Notes:
This one is short, I know. The next one will be much longer. Also, I wanted to put it up much earlier, but I got engrossed in the 4th Durarara!! novel (so much I've finished it in one day. Aah, Izaya...). And I'm watching Princess Tutu, which is surprisingly interesting.
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Oh, and I keep re-reading the BotP comic book (Blood Red Sky) and there is this one sentence that always cracks me up. Said by the (seemingly) antagonistic Gen. Tomak. "They (as in Gal-uh-Spectrans), in actuality, kidnapped your loved ones, and threatened to kill them in ways that only devils and psychopaths are familiar with. No matter how often I read it, it always makes me laugh. Good Heavens. Am I the only one, who finds it funny? I can't be.
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Oh, and I keep re-reading the BotP comic book (Blood Red Sky) and there is this one sentence that always cracks me up. Said by the (seemingly) antagonistic Gen. Tomak. "They (as in Gal-uh-Spectrans), in actuality, kidnapped your loved ones, and threatened to kill them in ways that only devils and psychopaths are familiar with. No matter how often I read it, it always makes me laugh. Good Heavens. Am I the only one, who finds it funny? I can't be.