Radioactive: Chapter Twenty-One

Radioactive

Chapter Twenty-One

~Toro! Toro! Ole!~

“There you are Kaiba!” Ing called as hung onto Fang’s back.

“I really don’t get why we even bother finding him,” Riu complained. “I’m just here for Kiri,” she looked around, “Where the heck is she anyway?”

“Good question,” Fang said as he looked around.

Kaiba pointed down a hallway, “She went after Jumper. They ran down that way just before you guys showed up. I was about to follow but I heard you coming.”

“Well, let’s go help her out!” Riu started running off down the hallway when Fang stopped her.

“If she’s chasing Jumper than who is this?” Fang asked. He looked down at the body of Jumper.

Kaiba sighed, “He jumped into another body when we had him cornered and took off. Now are you going to stand there looking like idiots because if you are, I’ll be on my way. I have a criminal to catch.” Kaiba turned around and walked down the hall, “Make yourself useful and bring the body to the surface. We could use it as bait to lure him out.”

Riu pulled her hand out of Fang’s grip, “Aren’t you coming? We’ve got to help Kiri out!”

Fang looked at her, “I suggest that you stay away from him.”

“Hey, I don’t like him but I’ve got to stand by my girl. Stay here for all I care!” Riu walked off after Kaiba.

Fang stood back and watched them. Kiri dropped off of Fang’s back and walked up beside him. He bent forward and looked up trying to gage Fang’s expression. Ing looked down the hall then back at Fang.

“I don’t get it,” Ing stated.

Fang shook his head. Kaiba and Riu were still within sight. As Fang watched them, Kaiba looked over his shoulder. Fang thought he saw a faint smile on his lips. The twosome disappeared down the hallway and could no longer be seen. Fang nodded when his suspicions were confirmed.

“Did I miss anything?” Jekyll asked as he walked into the room. He looked just as bored as usual.

“I think Kaiba isn’t himself right now,” Fang stated.

Jekyll raised a curious eyebrow, “Really, interesting. I wonder if it would still be frowned upon to nearly kill him in this state.”

“Unfortunately, I think it’s still very frowned upon,” Fang smiled, “Just keep in mind that his father wouldn’t take to kindly to you killing his son.”

“What do you mean that Kaiba isn’t feeling like himself?” Ing said.

Fang looked down at the little android, “He doesn’t smell right.”

“You mean…” Ing thought a moment, “But he said that he took control of another person and took off and that Kiri was after him.”

“Can you track Kiri down?” Fang asked, “I don’t know where she is but I can tell you that she isn’t down that hallway.”

Ing did just that. He ran to the railing and stood on the lowest bar. Ing looked over the edge and saw a vat of chemicals below. He pointed down, “It says she’s down there.”

Jekyll walked up to a control panel. He pressed a few buttons and raised a grate that was on a chain in the vat. A round grate rose and revealed the damaged android. She had substantially more damage than when she fell into the chemicals. The chemicals had started eating away at her frame. The grate lowered beside Ing. The little android ran up to the grate and analyzed the damage.

“She can’t use her body anymore but her initial programing should still be intact,” Ing reported. He looked up to Fang, “I’ll need to download her data in order to save her. I need permission to start the download process.”

Fang looked up at Jekyll, “Do you know what that entails?”

“An androids memory space is equal to about…a lot of government grade computers,” Jekyll stated, “It shouldn’t affect his effectiveness.”

Fang looked at Ing and nodded, “Go ahead.”

Ing looked down at Kiri. He changed his form into a strange white misty appearance. A thread of purple light came from Kiri’s android body and swirled wistfully toward Ing’s body. The purple light turned into white as Ing absorbed her data. When he had downloaded her data completely he assumed his normal appearance and looked up at Fang.

“It’s complete,” Ing stated, “Are we going after them now?”

Fang nodded, “That sounds like a plan to me.”

“I guess I’ll come along for amusement,” Jekyll walked past the duo and started down the hallway.

Fang motioned for Ing to follow and started walking off after Jekyll. Ing skipped after Fang as they went to get fake Kaiba before he caused any real trouble.

~§~

Kaiba walked down the hallway. Riu walked behind him. She looked around frequently, not being able to shake off an uncomfortable feeling that she had been experiencing. Kaiba looked over his shoulder and smiled. Sure it wasn’t as easily as he intended but taking them out one by one would work fine. He didn’t like the look that the one known as Fang gave him. Kaiba suspected that Fang knew that something was up. He wasn’t exactly sure how but taking Fang down would be more difficult than he thought.

“Hey, do you even know where you’re going?” Riu asked.

Kaiba sighed and rolled his eyes, “Yes. This way.” He walked into a side room.

Riu followed him. She entered a dark room. It was pitch black and she had trouble seeing where she was going. She couldn’t see where Kaiba had gone and he didn’t make any attempt to let her know where he was. On top of that, the sinking feeling in her stomach wasn’t going away. She stopped; her agitation was through the roof. Riu crossed her arms and refused to take another step.

“Come on, Kaiba! Come out! This isn’t funny! Where are you!?” she called. No one answered. Riu looked around trying to find something that would tell her where she was. The lights suddenly turned on and Riu sighed, “Finally! Where the heck were—”

She stopped; her eyes grew wide with shock. A monstrous mutant was mere inches from her. It towered over her, the horns on its head added to its height. The mutant growled before swiping a massive hand at her. Unable to move quickly enough, Riu was thrown to one side. Riu struck the wall. She grunted in pain before quickly getting to her feet. Riu looked around the room. Kaiba was nowhere to be seen and she was stuck with a rampaging mutant. The room looked like a kind of generator room. It roared and charged at her.

Riu ran around a cylindrical device, placing distance between it and her. The mutant ran into the wall and was stunned for a few moments. Its horns got stuck in the wall. Riu looked up and saw a grate in the ceiling. She looked at the mutant and took several steps back.

“Come on! Come at me!” Riu yelled.

The mutant dislodged his horns from the wall. It turned to her and bellowed. The mutant charged at her. Riu smiled and ran at it as well. As the creature dipped its head to strike her with its horns she jumped on to its back, using it as a step and jumped toward the grate. The grate swung open on its hinges as the creature ran on in to another wall beneath her.

“Aggh!” she grunted as she struggled to hang on to the grate as it swung open.

The creature turned quickly and ran at her. Riu looked over her shoulder. She pulled her legs up and tried to avoid getting her legs skewered by those horns.  The creature passed underneath. With a breath of release she dropped her legs. She started climbing the grate as if it were a ladder. Her legs flailed back and forth as a means of balance. The creature turned again and ran at her. This time it jumped in an attempt to reach her. Again, Riu pulled her legs up. She closed her eyes as she strained to hold on as her center of balance changed. The creature landed with a thud and Riu lowered her legs and climbed a little bit faster.

Finally, as the creature attempted to catch her again, she pulled herself into the ventilation system. Riu flopped over onto her back as she breathed heavily. Once she had caught her breath, she turned over and started army crawling through the ventilation system.

“Oh, when I get my hands on that creep I’ll ring his neck!” Riu muttered to herself as she tried to find her way to the surface.

~§~

Kaiba sighed with annoyance. He sat in a dark corner as he watched the scene unfold, “It looks like she got out. Go after her.” The creature beside him crawled up the wall and disappeared into the vents. Kaiba rolled his eyes, “This is going to be a little harder than I thought.”