085 - Everything Comes Crashing Down

[JasonPaul]

"I'm glad you came as quick as you did," Michael Wight said to the visitors. Miwan was there, eager to see what Wight had. Andrew was also there, as the whereabouts of his old friend were of great importance to him. Khali had joined late, although she was more anxious to get away from this place than anything. As the trio entered, Red was in the middle of hooking a rather old external hard drive--what was left of Data--into Wight's laptop through a USB port. Blue, the less tech-savvy of the twins, was simply standing to the side.

"I think I've got it," Red said finally. With that, Wight typed a few buttons on his laptop, and then turned the screen towards the visitors. They saw Data's final moments through his eyes, as he ran down a hallway, shotgun in hand. In front of him was a bald-headed man that Andrew immediately recognized as Midoro.

"Hey, it's like Doom!" Red exclaimed. Blue quickly shushed her.

"How long ago was this?" Andrew asked.

"Less than two months," Wight replied. "Blue and Red found Data less than a week before they arrived to help you."

Andrew and Miwan continued to watch the video. Midoro was clearly afraid of something, as he kept nervously glancing
left and right as he passed corridors. It did not take long to discover what he was afraid of, as an all too familiar humanoid with tentacles for a mouth suddenly rushed at him. Midoro quickly put the abomination down with a few shots from his pistol. Data suddenly wheeled around to face a second creature behind him, which he quickly dropped with his shotgun. Red winced at the sight, hoping she'd never have to see these bizarre creatures again, even if it was only on a video tape.

Eventually, the two entered a large room. Data turned to secure the door as they entered it. Midoro spoke to Data as he had his back turned. "We should be safe here. I don't think they've broken into this area yet."

"Let us hope so," Data said.

"How do our casualties look right now?"

"The underlings that were present when we opened the portal are almost certainly dead," Data replied gravely. "And I don't know how many of those creatures escaped, but I would not be averse to thinking that we are the last two alive."

Midoro shook his head. "What the hell happened to our counter-measures?" he asked Data. "We were supposed to be able to prevent unwanted entities from breaking through."

"I cannot say," Data replied. "Perhaps the program malfunctioned?"

"No," Midoro countered. "We've been running that thing back when the boss was still around, and nothing like this ever happened."

"Were the situation different, I could examine the devices for damage." After a pause, Data said, "We should have done that before we opened the portal, though."

"Yeah, well what can you do now? I don't think anyone was expecting--"

Midoro was interrupted by the sound of an anguished scream, and the video suddenly began fluctuating wildly. A warning on the video suddenly flashed "INTERNAL SPINAL DAMAGE DETECTED". Although Andrew and Miwan could not see what was going on, they heard the sounds of gunshots, and another anguished scream as Data's torso was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor, his lower body tossed aside a few feet away. As the notice "SYSTEMS 88% NONFUNCTIONAL" flashed on the screen, the image became clear again. They saw Midoro, who was now being suspended in the air (probably by his throat, although it was difficult to tell as his head was not visible in the image) by a third man wearing a denim jacket and black jeans. Although his back was turned and his head was not visible, Andrew and Miwan had no doubt who it was.

"That's him," Miwan said, her heart skipping a beat.

"You don't learn, do you?" the third voice said in a quiet but threatening tone. "Not enough that you managed to avoid prosecution with your cop-and-bull 'he was controlling me' story, you had to try and pull Mafioso from the hell we threw him in!"

"Akira." Midoro was frightened when he was running down the corridors, but now he sounded absolutely terrified. He was staring the grim reaper dead in the face. "Listen...maybe we can make a deal..."

"The only way you are getting out of this is through a body bag," Akira coldly stated.

"No," Midoro meekly said. "Please...I wasn't trying to get Mafioso out! Please believe me!"

"You're a horrible liar, Midoro," Akira said. "And even if you weren't you've done enough shit to warrant your presence in hell as it is." There was a long pause, the only sound audible was the sound of Midoro's heavy breathing. Suddenly, Akira spoke again, although the words that came out of his mouth confused everyone that heard them. "Where is that book Mafioso stole from Soljin?"

There was another pause, as if Midoro didn't quite understand what Akira was saying. "You...came here for that?"

"Where is it!?" Akira shouted.

"Why should I tell you?" Midoro asked, actually gaining a bit of confidence back. "You intend to kill me anyway."

"You're right," Akira quietly replied. "I guess I can find the book without your help." At that moment Akira's hands left Midoro's throat and quickly fell to his sides. Midoro screamed, but his scream was quickly drowned out by the sound of his vocal cords severing. He dropped to the floor clutching his throat, which had become a fountain of blood, and stopped moving a few seconds later.

Just then the display flashed the signal "AUDIO/VISUAL FUNCTIONS FAILING". But before they did, something happened that made both Andrew and Miwan sick.

Akira turned around, walking in Data's direction. They still could not see his face, but they did see something else that was not visible before--an intricate looking, and very familiar, gold bracelet around his right forearm.

"Is that what I think it is!?" Miwan suddenly shouted.

"No way," Andrew said. "I thought he dumped that thing!"

"I've done a lot of research on it," Wight said in a grave tone, "and I'm all but certain it's the Mobius Bracelet."

At the sound of those words, Khali, who had been disinterested in the entire fiasco, suddenly looked towards Wight, and then to the display on his laptop. The Mobius Bracelet was something of great interest to Khali. Soljin had come across it shortly before she left on her journey of self-enlightenment with Miwan over a decade ago. Reportedly, he had become so obsessed with it that he had forsaken his own people in the pursuit of his desire: the calling of the firelord Maram to cleanse humanity from the earth. Akira had claimed the bracelet after Soljin's death, and it was this fact that led Khali to believe that Akira was the one who murdered Soljin (it was actually Midnight, although Akira certainly had a hand in it). Akira had kept the bracelet hidden for years, until he was found wearing it shortly before Dr. Righteous came to power. Upon Andrew's insistence, he discarded the bracelet forever.

Or so it seemed...

One other interesting thing happened as Akira continued walking. He spoke. To someone. "It had better be here as you told me," he said, apparently to someone else who was in the room. "If this is another red herring I'll--" And at that the video ended.

"Who was he talking to just now?" Andrew asked.

Wight only shook his head. "I couldn't tell you. Data didn't pick up anyone besides Akira."

Miwan stood up, shaking her head, pacing back and forth. There was a lot on her mind right now. She had suspected that the Mobius Bracelet was involved for some time now, but had hoped that it wouldn't be the case. She didn't know much about the artifact herself, only that it was incredibly powerful and had the power to grant one's desire. What the hell could Akira desire that could be more important than her? Or was he even in his right mind at all? Miwan desperately hoped he wasn't.

"When you found this, did you find that book that Akira mentioned?" Miwan finally asked.

Blue shook her head. "We didn't find any books, although to be fair, we weren't looking for any books."

Miwan turned to Andrew. "You knew Mafioso for a while. What was in the book?"

Andrew shrugged his shoulders. "This is the first I've heard about it."

Miwan then turned to Khali. "He had a number of books," Khali replied. "I'd have to know more about the book to tell you what was in it."

"Data's hard drive had information on the book," Wight said, "but it seemed he didn't know much about it. It had information on the Mobius Bracelet, but that's all I know."

The felinefolk just sighed and shook her head. "Well, Midoro certainly seemed to know what it was." She turned to Wight with a faint smile. "Thanks. Keep me informed if you find anything else?"

Wight nodded. "Certainly."

With that, Miwan left the room. Andrew followed closely, almost as devastated as she was. Khali, who was apparently in deep thought, realized that the others had left and did the same.

Red spoke up, breaking the long silence. "So, should we go back to Vegas and look for that book?" she asked, praying that the answer would be "no."

Wight shook his head. "I have another job for you two. As much as I'd like to find Kusanagi we have more pressing matters at the moment. Get the dyes out of your hair. You're going undercover."