Pride's Origin

Chapter 9 - Depart (Pt 2)

    “I don’t know why, but he’s not picking up now,” stated Rikona. The sisters were secretly making their way off-site and were trying to reach Makoto, but she was not getting through for whatever reason.

    “Should we head over to his lab, maybe he’s still getting ready?” Kura was trying to think of a reason for him being so late and not picking up. “I mean, he’s never really been known for being an early bird to be honest.”

    Rikona smiled before she responded, “No, I guess not, I think we can make a small detour to his lab then.”

    The facility itself was actually quite beautiful, each building occupied a large plot of land while broad swaths of land were cleared and paved to allow for easy traversing to and from these buildings, thick stretches of trees decorated each side, granting the location an aesthetic feel.

    A warm wind rushed by while they made their way to Makoto’s lab, blowing some of the leaves free, adding an almost fairytale feel to this closing chapter of theirs. Suddenly, the sisters stopped in their tracks, looking around with serious looks on their faces.

    Rikona, however, soon calmed down, an austere expression became her element, “Come out, we know you’re there.”

    There was no immediate response for a while, but soon, they stared ahead and saw the hunched demeanour of an old man walking towards them from the direction they were headed to, “Oh, you’re very perceptive, not bad.”

    “s**t, the director!” cursed Kura, the old man that stood before them both was the director of Exélixi, Shihai Yokubo. He looked at them and revealed a friendly smile.

    “Greetings young ones, a nice day for a walk, isn’t it? It seems, however, to me that you’re going on more than just that. Why don’t you put down those heavy bags and sit awhile with this old man for a chat? You’d be making my day.”

    As he said this, the warm smile never once left this face, as if he was an old man in truth, wanting to hark back on the past with the new generation.

    The director was the last person the girls wanted to see. In the past, he would usually check up on them, making frequent visits to their lab for the sake of their research. He was near obsessive in this regard, but the girls bore with it since he allowed them to stay and live at the compound in more than favourable conditions.

    But now, here he stood, an aid turned obstacle, “My apologies director, we have… prior engagements with a friend,” Rikona stated, her eyes on the man in front of her but still aware of her surroundings.

    “That’s a pity, but I believe I will need to insist on that talk,” His demeanour of amicability turned to sadness before even that crumbled in its entirety, being replaced with the austere atmosphere belonging to the director of Exélixi.

    “First of all, Director Yokubo, you’re not worthy to sit down and have a talk with us. Second of all, I fail to see just how you’re going to be able to, if I may say, insist, on that talk,” Kura took the lead this time around and spared no feelings nor cordiality with her provocative words. Another wind blew across; however, this wind carried no warmth.

    Yokubo with no change to his expression simply and wordlessly raised his hand, similar to a child who wanted to answer a question, and In no time at all, a well-trained team complete in high tech tactical camouflage outfits and high-powered automatic firearms advanced from the forested environment to where they were.

    In a few breaths, they already surrounded the girls in a formation so tight that not even a fly could squeeze through.

    “Place the bags on the ground and back away with your hands behind your heads, NOW!” One of the men, presumably their commander, ordered the girls in a stern voice that left no room for discussion.

    The girls only spared a quick glance on the commander before shifting their attention back to the director, an action which nearly had the former throw up blood in anger.

    The old man smiled when he saw this and commented, “Girls, while you may be faster than us, more durable than us and so on, but I don’t think being impervious to bullets is a level you’ve reached, now is it?”

    Realisation dawned on Kura when she heard this, “It was you! You‘re the one I sensed last night. No wonder this seems so well thought out, though I don’t know you set this all up so fast. Alright cut the crap, where’s Makoto? I know that i***t wouldn’t avoid calls from my sister unless it were something serious, and barely, this situation seems to qualify.”

    Director Yokubo was visibly shaken by this, “Amazing! So you could sense me last night. Is this some sort of extrasensory ability that your research granted you!? Your research is truly a wonder!”

    At this, the sisters finally understood. The director was under the impression that they experimented on themselves and are probably something akin to super-soldiers. Not aware that this was who they really were, a kind of awakening of sorts.

    They both came to a tacit understanding to keep themselves in a state of being underestimated. “I’ll ask one more time, WHERE IS MAKOTO!?”

    Director Yokubo nodded to the commander, who chose to keep quiet after the conversation basically excluded him.

    He performed some hand gestures which the men behind perceived and soon two more masked military personnel exited from the expanse of trees carrying another man of similar height. Of course, who could it be but Makoto who was surprisingly unharmed but obviously irritated?

    As soon as he came outside, he immediately went off on his experience.

    “You’d think I’d be mad about being kidnapped, but nope not at all, it was comfortable actually. I mean, yeah, they broke into my lab, but by the time I noticed, they knocked me out, I went out like a light. So good night’s sleep can be checked off the list, thank you very much. No no, the reason why my face can be used to grater rocks is because of the ‘balls itch-inducing human-shaped mass of cancer’ behind me!” Makoto let loose a spiel of the one injustice that he felt he’d been subjected to.

    “Why is he not gagged!?” The commander was understandably furious at his subordinates’ slight.

    “Don’t be too hard on them, dear commander, even if they did gag him, he would have found a way to do the impossible and s**t out his mouth.”

    A voice that still had the ability to run a chill up the girls’ spines was heard. It was Mayuri, in all his creepy, disturbing glory.

    “So it was Mayuri, well no wonder you looked like that Makoto, I’m glad you’re fine though, well, my definition of fine anyway,” Rikona was relieved to see that Makoto was alright, her gaze turned severe when she shifted her attention to Mayuri. She was about to say something when she was interrupted by the director in front of her.

    “I really don’t want to sound too much like the stereotypical bad guy, but here goes. Give me what I want, and I’ll let Makoto and you and your sister go, if not I’ll have my fine men here open fire on him and you. I don’t think you’re even remotely close to a stage where you can deflect bullets, so don’t make this hard,” his aged face revealed a smirk, thinking he’d already won.

    “No! You promised you wouldn’t hurt them after you get what you want, I get them both! That was the deal!” Mayuri quickly interjected, thinking that the director was reneging on the conditions.

    The director’s eyes and even both the girl's eyes were wide open in shock at this outburst, with both groups thinking, “Stupid! That was obviously a lie to have us/them lower our/their guard.”

    Kura, when she saw this, just smiled and shook her head, clearly sympathising with the director’s plight for having such an asinine accomplice, evident by his twitching under the left eye.

    Director Yokubo decided to ignore Mayuri in his entirety and looked to the girls again before asking once more, “Well? How about it? Except for less than a few, I don’t plan to keep these good men waiting for too long if you don’t mind.”

    “Just listen to him, I mean we wouldn’t want to ruin those bodies of yours do we?” Mayuri once again had himself heard, much to the chagrin of the director. He was licking his lips in eager anticipation of their inevitable surrender.

    Suddenly, a feeling of pressure filled the surroundings. Rikona wasn’t going to continue bearing with someone who’s existence was a blight on humanity.