Chapter 10

"It's taking too long!" I grit out.

"Yet, it doesn't change the course of anything. We get there when we get there."

I scowl in Ry's direction, not liking his answer one bit. When we finally make it to the location, we notice multiple hovercrafts in the area as well as armed men.

She had to be here. Why else would they need such heavy security?

As if reading my mind, Ryuu puts hand on me to stop my legs from bouncing with anticipation. I frown in response but when I see men carrying a large cylinder made of glass, I gasp.

Our hovercraft parks a half a mile away behind the cusp of trees and another abandoned building.

"They have her, Ry. You saw it! We need to move, now!" My patient dissipates with Si-Jung's body this close.

"Patience!" he barks, glaring at me. "Things are put into place for a reason. We need to increase our chances of success. You need to wait for the signal."

"What signal! You haven't told me a damn thing, that's the problem! I'm tired of all this cryptic instruction. You keep your ass here if you want, but I'm going to go save Si-Jung," I snarl right before I explode out of the hovercraft and close the rest of the distance on foot.

"Dammit, Kira!" Ryuu roars but it's too late. I ignore him and focus on the chaos that unfolds before me when one of the guards notices my approach.

"Stop! You there!"

"Shoot her!"

Adrenaline courses through my veins, sharpening my senses and driving my every move. With each strike and dodge, I fight with everything I have, desperate to save Si-Jung. My cybernetic fist smashes into the first guard, sending him flying against one of the hovercraft. The next guard raises his gun and I drop to the ground, rolling in his direction with a foot sweep. The ammunition flies toward the skies as the next guard leaps toward me. Pulling a blade from my boot, I lodge it in his chest, taking him down.

But despite my best efforts driven by my fury for the injustice towards my childhood friend, the odds are stacked against me, and soon I find myself outnumbered and outmatched.

The first hit to my face threatens to stun me, but I wipe the blood away with the back of my hand and elbow the guard's neck.

More shouts of alarm fill the air as I unleash all my rage on these people, taking down half of the armed men with a combination of luck and determination. But strong arms wrap around me, dragging me to the ground with a force that knocks the wind from my lungs.

I struggle against my captors, fighting with every ounce of strength I have left until one of them pins me beneath their weight and slams the butt of his gun against my temples, sending me careening into utter darkness.

I don't know how much time passes as I lie there, gasping for breath upon regaining consciousness. Blinking a few times to readjust my vision, a sinister figure emerges from the shadows, a cruel smirk twisting his lips.

"Ah, what do we have here?" he muses, his voice dripping with malice. "Another specimen for my experiments, it seems. How fortunate."

My blood runs cold at his words. Instead of coming in to save Si-Jung, my reckless rescue mission has turned me into one of the victims instead. I mentally berate myself for my stupidity, my thoughts flashing between both Si-Jung and Ryuu.

Serves me right to find myself at the mercy of a twisted scientist. My eyes blur with tears as I turn to look at the glass cylinder that contains Si-Jung's body.

I failed you. I failed you again, I mentally cry out.

Both panic and helplessness threaten to consume me, but I force myself to stay calm in front of this madman. If he knows how scared I am, he can easily use Si-Jung's body against me to do whatever he wants..

The scientist's eager and hungry gaze rake my form from top to bottom and I shiver in disgust. Ryuu's warning words come back to me and guilt makes me want to choke. I'm trapped, alone and vulnerable, ruining whatever plan Ryuu initially had.

As he reaches for me with gloved hands, I flinch back, making him laugh with satisfaction. "Good, you have a healthy dose of fear. It's probably what kept you alive all this time, my little kitsune. Having you as part of my collection would bring me a continuous stream of a hefty sum, especially when I alter your DNA. Wouldn't that be fun? And seeing as you've already upgraded your system, well… that just makes things all the more interesting."

A shiver of dread races down my spine. A continuous stream? How is he planning on using me?

"I see the curiosity in your eyes. Why don't we just start playing, hmm? Time's a wasting and I have a schedule to keep with Miss Laska here," he says cheerily as he pats the glass cylinder. "Her father was more than willing to sell her for a price I was more than willing to pay."

I struggle against the restraints on my wrists, trying to scoot away across the floor as he lunges toward me with a syringe. When the needle pierces my skin, I scream, trying to kick him off me to no avail. My heart pounds against my chest and he slaps my face after injecting me with whatever concoction was in the barrel.

Tears stream down my face, wetting the floor beneath me as the ground begins to rumble. The scientist screams as a hovercraft crashes into the wall of the warehouse, crumbling the wall's material around us in a dust of debris.

I cough and sputter, trying to get control of my body, still restrained by my wrists behind my back.

Shadows dance as vile red eyes blink in and out of sight. Eerie howls mingle with screams of agony as the madman becomes enveloped by some of the demons, blood seeping from his pores and out his eyes.

My own lids flutter, perhaps from an adrenaline crash, perhaps from the aftereffects of the injection.

"Si-Jung…" I weakly call out, trying to crawl toward her.

Before I can make it far, something lifts me and I cry out in pain, my veins feeling like they are on fire from within.

"What did they do to you? Kira! Open your eyes!" Ryuu's voice sounds distant. I try to answer him but my lips have gone numb. The only thing they are capable of is trembling as more hot tears track down my cheeks.

The air around me shifts, thick with an ominous presence that chills me to the bone. Dread settles in the pit of my stomach as I realize that whatever horrors await me, I am powerless to stop them.

My circuits short as sparks shoot out in random locations. Ryuu's voice cuts through the chaos of screams and the smell of blood like a beacon of hope in the darkness.

"Kira, stay with me," he urges, his words a lifeline in the abyss. But even as I cling to his voice, I feel myself slipping further into the temptation of darkness.

A whimper of pain escapes when it feels like something lances through my organs. And that's when the ground shakes again, the walls of the building groaning in response to what shouldn't be possible.