41 Suffering (1/2)
**** DISCLAIMER: This chapter has a few disturbing, brutal scenes at the end.
PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
. . .
. . .
Hope looked at me in dismay. His expression was the opposite of mine. I was happy to see him again but he seemed to not be sharing the same emotions as I was.
The inside of the aircraft was lit by pale, blue light and was seemingly empty. Except for a lot of leather seats lined up along the wall and a metal door leading to somewhere underneath. No windows whatsoever. There was a sleek long, gray table in the middle with nothing on top of it.
”Well, this was quite a reunion for them,” said Bart as he entered the aircraft. The rest followed behind him.
”What's happening?” I found myself uttered those words. Hope was there with the Great Corporate United and all. And he was supposed to be dead.
That was I a.s.sumed before I met him there.
”Let's head back to the s.h.i.+p. They're not gonna wait for us forever like this,” said Alicia in irritation.
The open gap at the side of the aircraft closed. Soon, a noticeable sound which I interpreted as the engines roared for a while as we were lifted off the ground.
Alicia, Relly, and Lily took their seats casually. Kat who was carrying me laid my body on top of the gray colored table.
”I can't...” Every muscles and limb of me did not move, or rather cannot move.
”You already injected her with that drug, yes?” said Relly.
”Y-Yes, Sir,” answered Bee. The trio took the seats at the front of the aircraft s.p.a.ce.
”I'll have you know that your action today was quite... admirable. Still, I'll have some punishment ready since you disobeyed the general's order. But you saved us time in the end. We planned to lure Gheele Folami out of the palace somehow, but it proved to be almost impossible. After we succeeded in luring him out, one of us could capture Ava there,” said Relly. ”It seems to me she's a little bit disconnected somehow.”
”My test subjects always ended up like that, Relly. Their Aegis would go berserk at one point in time, and I'll just kill them,” said Alicia.
”You're wasting our precious Aegis containers, Alicia,” said Relly as he glanced at her.
”No matter. I DID end up with one good Aegis User in my experiments after all that,” said Alicia. ”Besides, the tracker that I installed inside Ava's Aegis proved to be useful to my surprise.”
Lily scowled. ”But you can just get her back at Mansel Island, stupid Alley Cya.”
”That's Alicia for you, Lily. l-i-c-i-a. And I admit that was something I regret. Who would've thought I could make use of her again, hmm?” Alicia cast a sideways glance at me.
”What do you... Mean?” I said, looking at her from the corner of my eye. I s.h.i.+fted my gaze to Hope, who was standing beside me. He still bore that dismayed expression of his. Hope's blond hair covered his eyes a bit as he looked onward.
I felt groggy.
My eyes blinked heavily while watching Hope.
I wanted to sleep. No, I needed to sleep. In spite of everything, my body required rest above anything else. And so, without my consent, I was plunged into an eternal darkness.
. . .
It was strange.
I had no dream.
Sounds of clinking and metal clanking forced my heavy eyelids to lift up.
There were green crystals everywhere, enveloping the walls and ceiling. Gleaming and glittering in the abnormally large room. The floor was covered with a grey slate all over, almost resembling a marble floor. Other than that, it was empty. Except for the shackles and metal chains binding my limbs to a tall, green crystal on the left and also on the right. A large, metal collar wrapped around my neck.
”Where...”
I swept my gaze around, a.n.a.lyzing every bit of detail and information I could obtain. Sadly, there was nothing else. It was also unusually cold like I was in a freezer of some sort. My nose could not pick up any scent in the air.
”Eh?”
Maybe I was a little bit foggy after waking up, but my clothes have changed. I wore an oversized white s.h.i.+rt, with a small barcode on my left shoulder.
I tried to pull away from the shackles but it was no use. ”Aegis,” I called. There was no response. The reflection that the crystals gave me every time I glanced at it was my red eyes, searching deep inside me for something.
”Someone...”
The crystals about a hundred meters in front began to s.h.i.+ft downwards, revealing a bunch of people behind it.
The first person I saw was Alicia, followed by Bart, Relly, and Lily. Though there were three other figures behind them that I could not recognize. And there was Hope, at the back.
”She's awake!” sounded Alicia. They all poured out into the crystal room and soon surrounded me. Hope's green eyes were looking at me with no emotions.
'Wait, green eyes?' I thought. Hope certainly had blue eyes before. Bart's amused expression somewhat confirmed my suspicion.
”Is she...?” said a little girl next to Alicia. She was a bit shorter than me, about 130 cm. So I a.s.sumed her age was nine to ten years old. Her red dress with intricate golden embroidery caught my attention. Her dark hair was short, paired with turquoise blue eyes.
”Yes, sweety. She's the last one that I had my hands on. My last test subject,” said Alicia. ”Ugh, I have yet to find another suitable Aegis User the past two years. It feels like I'm wasting my time.”
A man about the same height as Bart stepped forward, just a few meters away from me. He wore the standard dark blue military uniform, and his short, brown hair was spiky. He glared at me with his brown eyes. ”Are you sure she's able to do this?”
Alicia rolled her eyes. ”Oh, come on. Alexander, are you doubting me?”
”We have discussed this, right? It's not her fault,” said Bart. ”We did leave Ava back at the island, but that's in the past. Now that she's here. We can try that thing I've always wanted to do.” His grin annoyed me.
Alexander subtly adjusting his collar. ”Perhaps.”
Relly cleared his throat after observing their conversations. ”This all happens because you guys didn't want to do it in the first place, right? We've gone through all that trouble just to have her back in our possession.”
The others had bitter expressions after hearing Relly's statement.
'What's so bad that they have to capture me?' I thought.
Relly continued, ”This is for His Supremacy after all. If we succeed here, Neo Africa will fall. Gheele Folami will be in our hands. It was fortunate that there was not much resistance from their side when we carried out the operation.”
”But Gheele Folami interfered. I would have gotten Caesar back!” said Lily, who was behind Relly the whole time.
”We just need to distract him. Ava's our only goal after all. The s.h.i.+ps near Nigeria helped us in our escape,” said Bart.
”Indeed, I thought we're gonna invade them,” said Alexander.
”No, at least not yet. They're there only for us to escape,” said Relly.
I realized the young, slender girl next to Hope was silent, not particularly interested in joining her comrades' conversation.
”Why do you have... Hope on your side?” I finally asked.
Their attention moved to me, gradually making my heart sank from all the glaring eyes.
”You didn't tell her?” asked Lily to Bart.
”Hmm, do I need to though? I mean, I merely placed my crystal inside that guy in the first place, to control him however I please. He's tough, I can say that,” said Bart casually.
My red irises burned up at that. ”WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!”
”Eh, nothing. He's just a toy for me, I suppose. I figured he's somewhat important to you, that's why I saved him back then. You could say it was worth it since you're here now.” Bart's laugh made my heart pounded at my chest harder.