|
>>
|
No. 8723
ID: 398b7b
Continued from
>>621
Ten Thousand Stumps
Show 5 : Send Me a Sign
Lynn Beckett
We were at the dining table, enjoying a hassle-free evening, provided that having to eat a fried jissou mother isn't a hassle, when Genestar's phone suddenly rang.
After seeing who the caller was, he excused himself in another room. It could have been anybody, at first, but the expression he had when he came back strongly suggested his caller was the General.
“Sylvia, Mrs.Beckett, news are not good.”
Apparently, France very nearly lost a town named Gap to the dolls. It was as he told us concerning Annecy : Seemingly random arrivals of wild jissous quietly surround the town, and then, all hell breaks loose as every one of those pour into the city, gaining a nigh inexpungeable foothold.
Only quick reaction by the army, fully prepared, prevented citizens to be driven out of their homes. But the events were beginning to transpire to the general public, and their government was expecting a nation-wide panic soon.
Of course, I asked...
“But, wouldn't that be exactly what the Supreme Abuser program was for ?”
“Well not really. SupAb's mission was to raise concern about the jissous yes, but in regard to a crafted danger, a freak accident. People would have set out against the jissous, but not really fearing that they will absolutely be next.”
“But does it change anything, desu ?”
“Not in regards of our crafted invasion, no. I mean, with a mass invasion, an aware human population can't do much more than an unaware one. However, panic is never good...But there's worse. The Giant Tramplers know France is onto them. No less than five European towns, and two in the USA, have been attacked in only one night. In no case was the army prepared. As we speak, civilians are being evacuated. Witness accounts of Jissouseki breaking into apartments by groups of several families abound. Human casualties are few, but property damage is in the billions.”
“Holy f...but the army can do something now, can it, desu ?”
“No, it's too late. The danger is not having a lot of jissous in the street. It's having a lot of jissous in the houses. By releasing mind-boggling amounts of the retards into a town, the bad guys are basically cranking the house hunting to the max. With such a critical overload, jissous skip all the coaxing bullshit and go straight into fucking things up and making themselves at home. Just like they would with a house that adopted feral jissous for several weeks...It gets turned into a battlefield. And at that stage, it's very difficult to purge a house. When overridden houses number in the hundreds, this is an herculean task.”
“Damn, so those towns are now nothing but nesting grounds, desu.”
“Exactly. Even if half the houses are clean, the balance of power is now tilting to the Jissouseki's side. And the more nesting grounds there are, the more humanity is fucked. We need to bring out our A-game and find something useful NOW, because our enemies are through fucking around.”
I remained quiet through his speech, mainly because I was unsure how to react. Certainly, the analysis was sensible, but the scope of the consequences was simply too great to even consider. Still, it gave both Sylvia and me pause. From where we were standing, it was clear that doing our very best couldn't hurt, and was in fact showing a huge potential reward.
Stress on potential.
“I have something, desu !”
“Okay, what ?” Asked Genestar, nervous.
“You know, the memory I have about coming here, and talking to people, desu ? Well, I remember the living room, desu. I even have the vague impression of the secret passage opening, desu. But the actual place where I met those guys has nothing to do with the style here and...I explored the entire underground, and I still didn't see it, desu.”
“You're sure it wasn't in an entirely different place ?”
“I've never even been to enough places for that to be true, desu ! I have clear memories of the lab, the places after my escape, and Mistress's house, but I only have this place as a vague memory, desu. No, the room I remember is here, somewhere. We just didn't find it yet, desu.”
“Well, do you remember anything that could help us find it ?”
“If I did I would have found it already, desu !”
“The fact alone that we suspect that something's hidden is enough.”
Both turn to me.
“It does, desu ?”
“Yes. I gained access to an architectural map of the place this morning while tinkering with the computer. I vaguely looked at it, and thought there was something wrong somewhere."
"You studied architecture ?" Inquires Genestar.
"No but my field of expertise is materials science, which does have huge applications in architecture. Anyway, one corridor in the underground doesn't have rooms on its side, yet the walls have the same width as corridors that do. As a materials scientist, I'm thinking a wall you don't absolutely have to pierce with doorways should be thicker, to be able to handle more stress. But being no architect, I had no concrete evidence that it would, in fact, be necessary. So I thought nothing of it. But if there is a hidden room somewhere, that place is a likely candidate."
"Awesome ! I'll check it out right away, desu. Where is it, desu ?"
"Two flights of stairs from the first sub-level, if I recall correctly."
"I'll keep you posted, desu !"
She bolts off to the secret entrance behind the fireplace, leaving her jissou in her plate. She's missing all four limbs and a good part of the abdomen. The entrails, though cleaned of shit from Sylvia's patented faucet method, are still in place and partially bitten off. Genestar and me took the time to remove them, clean or not. The skin bears marks of burning, not unlike a pork-chop, but nowhere near as appetizing. She just looks like a third-degree burn victim, not a piece of well-done meat. The gray eyes surrounded by marks of pained squinting do not embellish this grisly image in the least.
My kingdom for real food...
"Found something else of note along with that map ?" Asks the Frenchman after a bite.
"I'm not sure. A lot seems to focus on the dolls and I'm not familiar with them."
"How do you crack the files' protection anyway ?"
"Easily. They're not really that protected at all. This place's previous occupants just used the CACLS command before leaving."
"And what would that be ?"
"Sloppy. Also, Window's equivalent to chmod. Gives or revoke reading, writing and editing rights, but it's not automatically protected in itself. So the files are only inaccessible until somebody chooses to get the access back."
"Ah okay, so if I knew anything about computers..."
"...It would have been like removing adhesive tape from a drawer."
"Terrific. So everything's open now ?"
"Unless they did really protect some files, yes. I used the command on the entire C:\ drive. Only for reading, so there's no danger of messing with system files."
"Well, thanks anyway. God I feel stupid."
"To each his own knowledge."
He leaves with a "I guess", taking his plate with him. That's when I hear a very faint voice, to my left.
Oh, there's an earpiece on a table. Sylvia's trying to reach us.
"You were quick." I say after taking and equipping it.
"And you were slow, desu ! Anyway, I'm in the doorless corridor you mentioned, desu. What do I do now ?"
"Well, you can begin by checking if any part of the wall sounds hollow. A bit too simple, but you have to begin somewhere."
"Sure thing, desu !"
Well...Now that I'm alone at the table, the last remnants of appetite I had vanished. I take my plate, and go to the kitchen. I never was a big eater anyway.
On my way to the trash, I can see Genestar, in front of the computer, making a fist-pump.
“Did you find what you wanted ?”
“Hell yeah I did !” He replies excitedly. “While I was looking for the files about Sylvia in the R&D directory, I found the original Falconer program !”
“...Falconer ? That was in the files upstairs.”
“Yes. The very first endeavor to gain control over the jissou crystals. It's what eventually triggered...well, everything ! The massive boom in pet jissou market, the mess in Annecy, and all this unfortunate situation with your ex-husband and Sylvia...All of them are related to Falconer. Anyway, the programming method is very well known to be extremely secretive, but...here it is. Right at the source.”
"That does sound interesting...Well, if you're into jissous, that is."
"Interesting ? It's the holy grail ! Even if you discount the possibilities this has for fixing this whole jissou apocalypse thing, abusers and pet owners alike have been frustrated at the fact that only one set of constraints is available worldwide for years !"
"Only one ?"
"Well, there are other versions, but they're well known to be basically the same thing : Don't attack humans, don't ruin their stuff, don't shit everywhere, hate feral jissous. No radically or even noticeably different version has ever hit the market, and believe me, that's by no lack of reverse engineering attempts."
"What about the amnesia you mentioned ?"
"Oh, that ? Well I think the amnesia programming is basically just brute-forcing data that happens to mess with the ability to access memories. It's not really a legitimate breakthrough."
"So they chose to never sell the source code despite the ludicrously high demand, and yet they left it unprotected on that computer ?"
"Don't ask me..."
"I won't."
Let him get excited about the goblins. This case is becoming a bit clearer. As far as I can gather right now, we've got a company trying to play God while showing dangerous signs of incompetence. They were onto something, sure, but they had a complete meltdown while trying to actually channel their discoveries into something useful. The rest is uncontrolled contingency.
That would, of course, mean Genestar can't hope to stop the city invasions in this place, for the butterfly has flapped its wings a long time ago.
"I found it, desu !" bellows Sylvia in my ear.
"A hollow-sounding part ?"
"No, the damn door itself ! Come on, quickly, desu !"
I call Genestar, and we quickly go to the underground. Sylvia is in the corridor I mentioned, making air-guitar gestures. There was, strangely, no door to be found around her.
"This is so frigging cool, desuuuuu !"
"How did you find it ?"
"I knocked on the wall like you said, and there weren't any parts that sounded obviously different than the rest, desu. But then I remembered something , desu ! Just a flash, but yeah, it was this woman saying..."
She dramatically rose her hands up in the air.
"Gamma Ray Aegis Cerberus"
Immediately, I felt a slight vibration in my feet as a mechanical sound filled the silent alley. The wall opened, a huge slab of smooth concrete pulled back by hydraulic pistons.
"Well I'm certainly glad the amnesia programming was reversible" observed the Frenchman.
"Makes sense, if you want to keep the existence of the door itself hidden, your best choice of input is voice control."
He looks at me with a confused expression.
"You're sure you're not actively trying to channel the show ?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you don't."
"HEY ! The cool stuff's over here, desu !"
"The young lady's right." I reply, walking to the aperture.
Thierry Genestar.
Sure she is.
Anyway, what lies beyond the secret passage, which would probably be visible upon close inspection of the wall, is unlike the rest of the underground. And that's an understatement. It's full of spartan rooms and ad hoc labs, and here is a classy living area.
I do mean classy. Like leather sofas, a persian mat and a few paintings and statuettes on the antique furniture. Even without context, finding this room in this place would have me dialing a superhero hotline.
"Holy shit is that cliché, desu."
"Cliché yes, but not necessarily that surprising..." says Sidle.
"Come on, it's something build for the cold war, they would never have included that !"
"Imagine you're a paranoid government that is convinced the world is going to end because of the URSS. You authorize bunkers, sure, but once the military has what it needs, you're going to make sure to throw in some luxurious amenities where you can live the rest of your life as the overly self-important persons you and your fellow "elites that must survive humanity" are."
"I...guess that makes sense, desu. Does it ?"
"Oh" I reply, shrugging. "That already wouldn't surprise me of certain french politicians, and we never had McCarthyism so..."
"Okay, desu...Anyway, this is where I met the owners of this place, I'm sure of it, desu.."
"That's a start" observes Beckett. "Let's look around."
No objection here.
No wonder Sylvia didn't confuse the villa and here even in fuzzy memories. The styles are completely different. One is modern, full of light and openings, a designer's home, and one is more classical, made after a certain idea of European class.
One thing that bothers me is how clean it is. I know rooms like this, my family has several bourgeois, and furniture like this, it makes a certain smell. A smell that is corrupted if you don't clean adamantly. This place doesn't smell like it's been abandoned for long.
Which, considering the state we found the villa in, is, not mandatorily I'll admit, disturbing. Evidence of recent activity, which we need if we're to have a reason to gasp dramatically, shouldn't have been hard to find. But the room is clean of any, save from a fair amount of dust.
“Clearly it goes beyond that room alone.” says Beckett, pointing at the two doors.
“Well, if we're going with megalomaniac politicians, a single room isn't logical.”
“I'm smelling jissous, desu.”
I turn towards Sylvia, sniffing.
"You're sure ? I don't smell anything. Well, apart from the smell our clothes picked up in the villa."
"Damn right I'm sure, desu. It's faint but it definitely smells like an indoors settlement, desu. And it's way too fresh to be a leftover scent, desu."
"Well, I do suppose you're well armed to identify their smell with precision."
"Not that I'm proud of it, desu."
She walks around for a while, before pointing at a door.
“It's from behind that, desu.”
Strangely, all of us seemed in awe before this unassuming door. And for what ? The presence of Jissouseki on the other side ? That's like being apprehensive of seeing a pigeon. But the situation was, in fact, thoroughly surreal. If jissous there were, this room would have been ruined a long time ago. And a simple door which didn't even feature a freaking lock would never have been able to keep them at bay.
Something was terribly wrong.
With a prudence uncharacteristic of her, Sylvia turns the handle, and opens the door.
Small gasps of surprise tell us the tale.
“We need them alive.”
“I guess so, desu.”
I realize that I have my hand on my shirt's breast pocket, where my phone lies. Professional habit of course, it's not uncommon to have to request backup when we enter an infested building.
While the first room of the secret area was a living room, or perhaps more of a lounge, this one definitely looks like a personal room. Weird, then, to see a door on the other side.
Damage assessment. Strong jissouseki odor, items out of place without going to mess level, the uncontrollable chirping of panicked maggots accompanied with barely hidden calls to silence. But conspicuous absence of everyone's favorite : the green goo splattered everywhere. The odor indicates it's here, but most likely hidden. Pet jissous.
Sylvia points to a cupboard, all the while hand-signaling us to hold our position. I taught her the basics, just in case. She slowly goes to the piece of furniture, and opens it.
"De !"
"Repya !"
"Don't hurt us, weird jissou-chan, techi !"
"Calm down, desu. I'm Sylvia, I'm just exploring this place, desu."
"You're...not here to hurt us, desu ?" Cautiously replied the mother.
"No, now come out so I can ask you a few questions."
They obliged, and soon we saw a rather average group of jissous, with a mother, her three kojissous and a few maggots. Nothing special to say about their appearance either.
"Who is your master, desu ?"
"Master, desu."
"Yes, desu. Who's he, desu ?"
"I told you, master, desu."
"Ah okay I got it, desu...Well guys," she said, turning her head toward us "you have other questions, desu ?"
"Well, to be hon..."
"Mr.Men techi !"
The fuck ?
As soon as I uttered a word, the whole family turned to me like a group of possessed children in a goddamn horror flick. They wobbled in my direction with unsettling intensity. Lynn was obviously freaked out and took a step backwards. It didn't take an expert to know those were about to go full retard at our feet.
I took out my flashball gun.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
The trio of daughters was pulverized on the spot. The mama broke her stride, looked back, shat herself, and began showing her teeth at me.
“Describe your master or die right now.” I say as emotionlessly as I can.
“SHIT MR.MA-”
*BANG*
At this moment, I knew perfectly well I looked badass as fuck. Still, I wasn't trying to woo anyone.
“Okay ladies, we're in trouble. There is something in this part of the compound that is intelligent but not human.”
“Alright, I'm in.” Said the CSI, crossing her arms. “What makes you say that ?”
“Let's begin with the easy part. This was the first time those jissous ever saw a human being. A little long to explain, but basically, when Sylvia talked to them they were in a state they're never in when in human proximity, and their reaction to us guarantee they aren't pet jissous.”
“And for the intelligent being ?”
“Well, they did refer to as a “master” and we know for a fact he isn't human. Or talking through an electronic device, maaaaaaaaybe. But improbable.”
“Well, an older Jissouseki comes to mind.”
“Yes, but they would call her Jissou-sama, mistress at best.A dick jissou being out of the question.”
“I see your point.”
I look at Sylvia, who seems troubled.
“You're the only one here that won't make the jissous in here crazy. You'll have to continue alone. Find that Master and bring him alive. He may hold the key to stopping this invasion.”
"Huh ? Huh, okay. Fine by me, desu."
And by just leaving through the other door, she baffles me one more time. I pretty much said she wasn't human here, she had every right to freak out.
Go figure.
Lynn suddenly begins to talk by herself. I ,thankfully, quickly realize she's talking to Sylvia via the earpiece.
"You might want to take this" she then says, "you're the expert on those monstrosities."
Sylvia
Jeaaaaaaloooousyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
Aren't the French supposed to suck at war ? He put like three headshots on three small moving targets under two seconds. You can't even explain this by his job. Exterminators use poison, not guns. That can't possibly be useful to him. What a fucking poseur.
Anyway.
This place is nothing like the rest of the underground. It's a comfy apartment. Inside a bunker. There's something really creepy about this, in an exciting way, like being in the Twilight Zone. And while I'm not sure of the exact reason why the frenchie freaked out after seeing the jissous here, I do feel like something is deeply wrong about them. They're far too orderly. It's a good thing, objectively, but it's unnatural and freaky. Like if you found yourself in a city where there is zero crime and not even any arguments in the street. You wouldn't think "Wow, it's a paradise on earth !". You would think "I've got to get out of here before my brain turns into an octopus too."
You can bitch about people being assholes, but if everyone was nice, it just might actually be worse.
"Hungry, techi."
Good, some familiar ground.
The closest room from here is a bathroom. A large one, with a big, round bathtub. The toilet catches my eye : it's surrounded by random things. Judging from the small jissou child idly sitting on the toilet bowl, it's a crude stairwell.
"Pooping is fun techi, if you keep it clean techi"
"Hello there, desu" I say, refraining a hilarious push.
"Hello weird jissou-chan techi. I am pooping, do not take the toilet techi !"
"I...just want to ask you something, desu. Who taught you to shit here, desu ?"
"Mama, techi."
"Hey frenchie" I tell through the speaker. "You should know something about interrogating jissous, desu."
"Should I tell you about that derelict factory thing again ?"
"Yeah right, like it wasn't way overblown, desu."
The kojissou just sits here, her ass crack over the hole, without any sign of physical exertion. That's just not normal. Even Stella and her children made sure to do their business quickly.
"What are you waiting for, desu ? Shit, desu !"
"Shut up, weird jissou-chan, techi."
You know what ? I'm not even going to try.
I blow on her, and she falls head over fleshy tubes before she can even react.
"Techglurb ! I fell, techi, save me, techi !"
"Why, desu ? What's so great about your life that I should save it from ending right now, desu ?"
"Be...Because I am good jissou, techi !"
She sinks after emptying her lungs from speaking. She breathes in a bit of water and coughs. She tries to climb the ceramic, and slips.
The awesome, cruel usual.
"Nope, you're a sentient piece of plastic just sitting on your ass doing nothing, desu. Your life doesn't matter, desu."
"SHUT UP, SHIT JISSOU-CHAN, TECHA !"
"Okay, one last question. Show me if you're as great as you think you are, desu. How..."
"Master will...argblchi...kill you, techa !"
"Forget the question. Enjoy your trip, desuuuu !"
I flush the toilet. "TEGYAAAA*blub*" An arm gets ripped off by the current that, from her perspective, most be like the inside of a laundromat. The rest of her last moments, I can only guess. I mean, we all saw plans of a toilet but that's about it. It must be something like that :
"What's happening, techi ? Can not breathe, techa ! TEG ! Head hit something, hurts, techieeen ! I can not see, I want to get out of there, techieen...Hurts ! Want to breathe, tegyaaa !"
At any rate, I seriously doubt she can hold her breath until finding air again, and even if she does, she'll be half dead.
...There must be others around.
Hey, in fact, there's one right there ! A mama asleep in the tub. No visible shit in her panties, but a dirty mouth, proof of her cannibalistic behavior. Good, she should be less stupid and thus more informative.
That said, she did fell asleep in the tub. Given its depth, and her size and corpulence, respectively not yet a fully-grown adult and already a fully-grown fatass mama, she won't be able to get out herself. She climbed thanks to an old hairdryer box, but has nothing to help her for the return trip.
I have an idea.
"Oh my god oh my god wake up desu !!!"
"Deee ?!" Drowsily exclaims the mama.
"There was a cute little kojissou on the toilet, the Master killed her, desu !"
"...Deee ? Jissou-chan ? That is not possible, desu !"
"It is, desu ! I saw him come in the bathroom, push the poor little thing and flush her out, desu !"
"No ! Why, deshaa ?!"
"I don't know, desu."
"Jissou-chan did not deserve this, desuuuuun...But I cannot avenge her, ororooon..."
She was completely heartbroken, but also strangely unwilling to go and kill shit master. Susceptible as they are, she shouldn't be...I mean, I was counting on the fact that she couldn't get out to tell me spontaneously where to find the supposed killer.
Bah, that'll do I guess.
"Just tell me where he is, desu !"
"In room near, desuuuun...."
That simple ? Alright.
I go out of the bathroom, and look to the opposite side to where I came from.
Now how should I handle it ? I mean, the "master" will pose a bigger challenge than those he commands. It could be a robot, or...another experiment.
Another like me.
Oh shit, that sounds like a very real possibility. Another PTLD. Maybe a failed experiment, even, alive but barely sentient. Or, on the contrary, my exact sister.
"Jissou-chan was my favorite, desuuuun, I..."
"Daaah what the fuck desu ?!!"
The fat mama is here, tugging at my sock.
How in the name of flying ass did she get over there ?!
Angered, I grab her by the braids and pull her to my face.
"You had absolutely no business getting out of that tub, you cunt, desu."
"Wha...what are you talking about, desha ? It was easy, let me go, desha !"
"You smug little blister."
I turn to the wall and hold her back against it. She dangles around, trying to reach her braids with her stumps.
I ready my fist, and, literally, punch her face in.
"DEG-"
All of her facial structure is relocated to the back of her skull, her eyes reduced to pulp, and her brains are squeezed to the rest of her head, causing intense and utterly unnatural swelling.
I let her fall, and even if her grown legs don't break, she's suitably fucked as she is. Unable to talk, she instead emits sort of a labored whistle through her orifices.
I turn back to the remaining door.
"Okay, desu. No more stalling."
When I turn the handle, I expect to be greeted by the usual environmental sounds of a place full of jissous. But it's remarkably quiet, as only soft sounds of movement get through the opening. Maybe they're all asleep, I think.
Well, no they aren't. They're perfectly awake. Kind of hanging out, doing jissou stuff, without the irritating soundtrack that normally goes with it. And there are twenty or so of them. With, strangely, no maggot in sight. No Master in sight either.
Of course.
"Okay you shitbags, desu. Give me the Master and no one dies, desu."
Instantly, all the jissous in the room turn blue from panic, and put their stumps in front of their A-mouths.
"Shhhhhhhhh techi !"
I take my guns out. I can't aim for shit right now, but I have to make a statement.
“You motherfuckers really are getting cocky, desu.”
In a few, incredibly loud seconds, I blindly empty both my magazines on the herd. Enough with the weirdness, enough with the mysteries. I want my jissous fragile, numerous, reliably stupid, and shitting their pants from fear.
From this distance, thank God, I achieved what I wanted, and have their undivided attention.
“He's not worth your life, desu. Where is the Master, NOW, desu.”
The adults are hugging their dead offspring or their own wounds. The children are covering up their ears, teeth chattering. But none of them are answering.
Fine by me.
When I take one mama, she's still clutching her left leg, she whimpers, but keeps clenching her teeth. Her restraint, like all the others, is out of this world. The Master must be a serious hard-ass to keep them in line even in the face of death. Hey, that could be fun after all.
I grab one of the terrified little jissous, and put her right in the field of vision of the mama that seemed to react the most. The two simplistic humanoids stare at each other with teary eyes, but remain quiet. I thus put the little girl's forelock between my thumb and my index finger. The reaction is quick. The child straightens up and repeatedly hits my fingers. She does whimper, but even that is quickly met with the mother's "ssshhhhh desuuuuu". Okay, there goes the lock. Silently, the now bald-forheaded child lets her arms down, and puts a "Oh, come on" look on her face.
It's obvious those jissous are like any other. They have the same reactions, the same pain when they're abused. It's just that abused Jissouseki are prone to complain, and those don't have the right to do so.
Heh, it really puts the meaning back in "abused". I'm abusing a situation they can't get out of. I'm being the opposite of fair. They're upholding some kind of law, and they get hell for it. They're thoroughly screwed.
I sloooowly get to the left braid. The helpless kojissou realizes soon enough what's about to happen and puts her paws in an unmistakeable prayer gesture, shaking her head. But I pull, and the hair gets torn out.
"Nooo my beautiful hai-TEG"
Holy hell, what ?
The mama had a panic attack and straight up punched the child. With all her might. The shock crushed the poor little bastard against my palm, prompting a vomit full of chunks of vital organs.
My bit of fun is well into creepy territory now. Seriously, that's not hard ass at this point, that's dictatorship.
And it's clear the oppressed jissous won't help me.
Thierry Genestar
And again, a few moments after this interrupted plight from a kojissou, Sylvia goes to town.
Multiple "Hyaaaah !"s followed by the noise of frail jissou bones breaking. It's like Link in a pottery shop. Getting to the complete massacre option every time might seem worrying, but a bunch of mute jissous ? Yeah, fair enough.
"Well, I guess the Master isn't around anymore."
"Yeah, nothing but Jissouseki here, desu."
"We'll get back to the villa, have fun."
"Okay, desu. Karateeeeeee chop !"
Ah, shit, so much for being the miracle the world n...
"W...W...W...W...Whaaaat desu ?" I hear Sylvia say with an utterly confused and voice.
"What's up ?"
"I...I...No f...What, desu ?"
"Hey, you feel alright ?" I turn to Lynn, who's looking at me, curious. "I don't know, she's having a meltdown." Back to Sylvia. "Take your time. Breathe."
"No you d-d-d-don't understand, desu !"
Obviously, the jissous down there decided to take the chance and run for it. One mama appears where we are waiting, running to the exit.
"Hey, you let one escape."
"YEAH, HER ! CATCH HER NOW DESU !"
I look at the escaping Jissou, who heard the shout through the earpiece. She smiles at me. No, leers at me. And her mismatched eyes briefly, but clearly, flash yellow.
Bright yellow.
What. The. Fuck ?
In a blink of an eye, she's gone.
"Shit ! Beckett, with me ! We have to catch her !"
Without checking if she follows me, I dart to the main part of the underground bunker where the jissou with yellow eyes went. Nothing in the connecting corridor, she's already beginning to lose us. That can't be real !
"You see her ?!" Shouts Beckett from the other end of the corridor as I get to a right turn.
"No ! Nothing, she just freaking vanished !"
"You've got to be kidding me..."
Thirty minutes or so later, all three of us are standing in the living room. We're all pretty shaken, but Sylvia is livid.
"So...what happened ?" Asks Lynn to her. "How did you find that...thing ?"
"I just did a karate chop to a mama. A completely normal mama, dammit, desu."
"And ?"
"She blocked it, desu !"
"She...what ?"
"You mean she dodged it, right ?" I intervene. "They just don't have the physical ability to..."
"No ! Fucking blocked it, desu ! She raised her stump, and bam, my chop was stopped like it hit a human arm, desu !"
I take my head into my hands.
"Okay, I've got nothing. Never saw anything of the sort. Stargate excepted."
"I think we can agree this is likely to be directly linked to those we're after, however, right ?"
"Yes Mrs.Beckett, we certainly can."
"We have to find it, desu !"
"We searched the entire underground twice" matter-of-factly says the CSI. "There's only one place she could have run off to."
"I don't care, as long as I can do as much unstopped karate chops as I can, desu !"
Knowing full well what Lynn is referring to, I walk to the windows, to behold once again what we ignored for all too long since we got here.
The main event.
"For once, I've got good news for you."
|