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.”

Radioactive: Chapter Fourteen

Radioactive

Chapter Fourteen

~Two in One~

“There is no way that I am going back out there with him!” Riu shouted, “He could have ruined my cover and gotten us both killed! Does no one understand that?”

Kaiba sighed. He sat at one of the computers as he got some work done, “For the nth time, Duke is a specialist in undercover operations. That is why I brought him along. Also, what Duke said was entirely true. This Grayson character already knew that you weren’t who you said you were but trusted you anyway. That should say something shouldn’t it?”

Riu crossed her arms, “Still! What gave him any right to give me out like that!?”

“Are you sure this isn’t a pride thing?” Fang, in his human form, asked.

“I don’t recall talking to you!” Riu snapped at him.

Fang nodded, “It’s a pride thing.”

“Pride thing,” Jekyll agreed.

“I just said—arrgh!” she stormed up stairs away from the others.

Kiri stood up from her seat and followed Riu upstairs. She stopped half way and looked down at the boys below, “It’s true that men don’t really ever grow up.”

“Ouch,” Fang stated as Kiri went upstairs.

Duke looked at Fang, “I didn’t mean to out her, it’s just that in that situation it seemed best to come clean than for him to call us liars and shoot us.”

“She knows that,” Fang said, “It just hurts to admit it.”

Kaiba sighed and typed away at the computer, “Since we didn’t find anything out yesterday we’ll just have to find some today.”

“There has to be a faster way to do this,” Fang groaned.

“If you think of something, please let me know,” Kaiba said, “Until then, head out.”

“Yay!” Ing threw his arms into the air.

Fang glared at him, “Don’t get too exited now.”

Jekyll walked toward the window, “I guess I’ll be on my way then.”

“At least someone is getting stuff done,” Kaiba muttered.

Fang sighed, “Come on, kid.” He headed for the window with Ing close on his heels.

The twosome walked through the streets. They walked along a route that they didn’t go the day before. A few people talked to the boy atop the dog and they were able to make a few connections and ask a few questions in a non-threatening conversation. As they walked through the streets and alleys they saw a woman walking through the streets. Fang stopped and observed the situation. Ing looked over. He was interested only because Fang looked interested.

“Synthia!” the woman called out, “Synthia! Where are you girl!? You know how worried you’ve made me!?”

Fang walked up to her casually. Ing did the talking.

“Are you looking for someone?” Ing asked.

The woman turned to them. She looked frazzled and confused; almost shocked that someone seemed to care about her plight.  The woman came up to them and pulled out a picture.

“My daughter,” she said, “It’s her birthday today and I can’t find her. I stopped by her apartment but she wasn’t there.”

“She could be hanging out with friends, right?” Ing said.

“Her kids were still in the apartment. I know there are lots of mothers that don’t care about their kids in this neighborhood by my girl wasn’t one of them. I tried to raise her right. She wouldn’t leave her kids alone without a babysitter at least. If she had needed to be somewhere she would have called me to watch the kids. Can you help me look for her? I think something must have happened.”

Ing looked at the picture, “We’ll keep an eye out for her. I’d hate for something bad to happen to her.”

“Thank you,” the woman sobbed, “thank you so much!” The woman walked away calling out her daughter’s name and stopping anyone who would listen.

Ing looked down at Fang, “That was the same girl from yesterday. What do you think happened to her?”

“I don’t know,” Fang stated, “Let’s get moving.”

Fang walked to where they had met the girl at her apartment. It was true. The building looked empty and there was no trace of the girl. Fang sniffed at the ground near the door and followed a scent trail. He walked with his nose to the ground. Confused and interested, Ing watched Fang work.

“What are you doing?” Ing asked.

“Tracking someone,” Fang said.

“Who?”

“The boy she was with.”

“Why?”

“Something wasn’t right,” Fang stated.

“Not right?”

Fang looked over his shoulder, “Are you really of any use other than to ask questions and annoy people?”

“Hmph,” Ing crossed his arms.

Fang continued his tracking, “The way the boy smelled bothered me. He didn’t smell right.”

“How so? I mean—” Ing covered his mouth. “Sorry,” he apologized, realizing he was still asking questions.

Fang looked over his shoulder for a moment before continuing his tracking, “He smelled like two different people. Before you ask another question, every person has their own unique scent. Even you do and technically you’re an inanimate object. But with that kid he had two different scents. The best I can describe it is that his body had a scent but there was a different scent mixed in with it. Again, it was like two different scents on one person.”

“Couldn’t it have been a trace sent that he picked up from someone else?” Ing questioned.

Fang sighed, “Don’t you think I know the difference between someone’s sent compared to a trace someone picked up?”

“Sorry,” Ing looked down.

Fang continued on as he followed the scent. He followed it to an alley way where the scent was the strongest. Fang walked around trash dumpsters and piles of garbage and cardboard boxes. He stopped suddenly when he saw what was ahead of them.

“Get off my back and turn around, kid,” Fang stated.

“But…”

“Now!” Fang snarled.

Ing got off Fang’s back and turned around like Fang told him to. Fang assumed his human appearance and walked closer to what he found. He knelt down by the body of the boy that they had seen the day before. Fang examined the body.  He also observed the surrounding scene. The body lay lifeless in the alley; to Fang it looked abandoned like someone’s coat discarded after use. There was a cardboard box that looked like it had been used by a homeless person. Where the homeless person was, Fang didn’t know. The surrounding smells and stenches coming from the garbage masked the scent of anything else.

Fang sighed. He got up and walked over to Ing. He pushed the boy out of the alley and they stood there while Fang tried to figure out what to do next.

“What now?” Ing looked up at Fang.

“Well, we should report this to Kaiba and let him figure out what we’re up against,” Fang answered.

“Okay,” Ing nodded. “Fang?”

“Yeah,” Fang looked down at Ing.

Ing looked down, “I’ve never seen a dead body before like that, I mean…”

“You’ll be fine,” Fang placed a hand on Ing’s shoulders, “You’ll be okay.”

Ing leaned against Fang’s leg, “I’m sorry.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Fang said as he guided Ing back toward their base, “Come on, let’s get you back. You look tired. Let’s get you some rest.”

Radioactive: Chapter One

Radioactive

Chapter One

~Haunted Houses and Monsters~

Part One

A scream echoed throughout the rock fortress. Electric sparks flickered as a man overlooked from a balcony. He wore a lab coat and black gloves. Thick black goggles covered his eyes as he smiled widely at the screaming withering creature below. He was tall. The man was at least six feet or so. He tapped his black booted foot on the ground as if waiting patiently for something to happen. One of the assistants below looked up at him with a question in his eyes. The man nodded and the assistant went back to work. The creature screamed in pain.

“Just hold on one more minute. It will all be over soon,” the man smiled.

He bit his lip to contain himself. To him, the creature below was a work of art and it was only moments from completion.

“We have completed the last procedure, Doctor,” one of the assistants said.

The Doctor walked down some steps and walked over to slab where the creature lay breathing heavily. Scaled arms were chained to the slab. The Doctor brushed his hand on the creature’s scaled face. He hushed the animal on the slab.

“Shh, shh,” the Doctor smiled, “It’s all over now. The pain is all over.”

The creatures green reptilian eyes looked at the Doctor with some affection even after the torturous procedure. It tried to speak but the Doctor placed a finger over its mouth.

“You’re beautiful,” the Doctor whispered, “You’ll be free soon. Free to cause all the havoc you want.”

A fanged smile spread across the creatures face. A forked tongue, long and snakelike, slithered out of its mouth.

“Yes, Doctor,” came a hoarse whisper.

~§~

Kaiba pulled the car over across the street from a large house. He eyed the home carefully with his perceptive brown eyes. With one hand he brushed a few strands of his brown hair out of his eyes.

The house was old and weather worn; just like the ones horror stories were made from. The front porch had a swing that swayed in the wind giving off a horrible sound every so often when you least expected it. The house creaked and groaned from old age. No one had lived in it for years but was now the center of several disappearances as of late.

Kaiba looked at the house a moment longer before stepping out of the car. His black appearance was normal: black shirt and pants. Instead of his usual black coat he wore a white and grey one. He closed the car door behind him. The passenger door on the other side opened and closed right after his.

The android Kiri, his loyal companion, stepped around the car carrying a silver briefcase. She stood by Kaiba’s side; the wind blew some of her short black hair into her purple eyes. Her sleeveless purple kimono top looked new and unwrinkled and her black heels clicked on the ground with confidence as she walked. Kaiba barely gave her a second glance. She was like his shadow. He was used to her following him where ever he went.

Kiri looked down the way they came, down the hill they had just driven up. There was no one in site. Not a surprise, considering that there were a string of missing people spanning the last couple of weeks. The disappearances were unnatural and alerted the Tower computers of a possible threat. The missing people didn’t even have anything in common be it age, gender or places; it all appeared random. Even the computers weren’t sure exactly what was going on only that it couldn’t all be coincidence. Because of the mysterious nature of the mission Kaiba’s father, Sirius Galaxy, sent his son personally to see what was going on.

Both Kaiba and Kiri were part of an elite team of Fixers. Their job description was simple enough: Fix whatever the Tower needed fixing, including assassinations to media control. Fortunately, assassinations were a rare extreme. Usually they worked alone or with a partner. Only in rare cases does one see more than two Fixers on a case. This was a usual mission, no need for more support.

“Are we in the right place?” Kaiba asked, “The center of the disappearances?”

Kiri nodded, “3434 Sycamore Lane.”

“Hmm,” Kaiba looked around, “what a dump. Surprised the police didn’t check here first.”

“Rumors of a murderous ghost,” Kiri provided background information.

“Ghosts aren’t logical, therefore they don’t exist,” Kaiba shrugged off the superstitious idea.

Kiri turned to look at him, “What makes you say that?”

“Think of the world we live in. If there is a better place after death, why stick around here?” he left the question in the air and walked toward the house.

Kiri herself didn’t believe in ghosts but acknowledged Kaiba had made a good point. She looked at the house. Even though she didn’t believe in ghosts she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone or something was watching her.

“Are you going to stand there daydreaming all day?” Kaiba called over his shoulder.

Kiri noticed he was already across the street. She hurried to join him, carrying the briefcase. Together they climbed the two steps onto the large porch and stood at the door. Kaiba reached for the doorknob. The door opened easily and he walked in.

The inside of the house was in total disarray. They walked into a wide open room. A staircase ahead of them was half decayed and destroyed. Any furniture that was in the main room was covered in white sheets or was knocked over and broken. The sheets had holes in them from years of hungry moths. Sunlight peaked through the holes in the ceiling. Birds looked down at them as they hopped from support beam to support beam.

“Report,” Kaiba stated as he glanced at a watch on his wrist.

“Complete scan incomplete,” Kiri answered, “First and second floor clear of any dangers.”

Kaiba sighed, “I guess it will be faster to look on foot.”

He started walking through the house. Kiri rolled her eyes before following him. She changed her setting from normal to investigative. Her vision changed to a clear green, highlighting red anything that appeared out of place or curious.

Kaiba brought out a computerized notebook from his inner coat pocket and wrote something in the glass pages. He put it back and looked at Kiri.

“You check this floor and the upstairs. I’ll take a look at the basement,” Kaiba commanded.

“Sure,” Kiri nodded, “I’ll monitor you movements.”

“Not necessary,” Kaiba muttered, “By the way this house is falling apart, no one’s been in here for years. This honestly feels like a waste of my time. Make the sweep quick. The sooner we’re done here, the sooner I can get some real work done.”

“Whatever you say,” Kiri said

Kaiba left for the basement leaving Kiri in the main hall. She waited until she couldn’t visually see Kaiba anymore before she walked around the first floor. Kiri set down the briefcase and began walking around the floor. With one long candle like finger, Kiri touched an old desk. The dust was thick, making the surface of the desk almost white. She brought her finger closer to her face as she analyzed the contents of the dust. It was the usual; trace amounts of human skin and hair, pollen, mold, fungi, particles of wool, and of course rat feces.

She looked up at the ceiling. There was a hole in the ceiling that was larger than some of the others. Something on the screen glowed red near the opening. Kiri started walking up the stairs but stopped suddenly. After a quick scan, it revealed that the staircase wasn’t the most reliable route.

Kiri transferred some of her power to her legs. She crouched and jumped in the air. With a loud thud, she landed on the upper balcony, the staircase behind her. She waited a moment before moving as the house settled once again. Kiri stood up and walked under the ray of light caused by the whole in the ceiling. A small piece of cloth hung from a sharp piece of wood. The cloth was stained with blood. Looking on the floor was a smeared blood puddle heading off away from where Kiri stood. She knelt down. A compartment in her upper right arm opened with a hissing sound. She pulled out a sterile cotton swab and took a sample of blood, placed the swab in a container and placed the container back in her arm. The compartment closed leaving no trace that it was ever there. It would take a while for the DNA results to come back. She then stood up and followed the trail.

In the stairway down to the basement, Kaiba felt the impact of Kiri’s jump. Dust and small pieces of debris fell on and around him. He coughed and covered his mouth with his coat. For a moment, he looked up at the ceiling as if Kiri could see his annoyed expression. Slowly, he made his way down the stairs. When the dust finally settled again he muttered something under his breath and reached into his coat. He pulled out a small flashlight and looked around.

The basement looked like the rest of the house: in need of attention. It was cold and dark. Mold grew on the walls and on the furniture that was left. Kaiba kept his mouth and nose covered. He aimed his flashlight to a wall. Kaiba took a step back. A claw mark stretched from one side of the wall to the other. Kaiba walked closer to get a better look. Something shimmered in one of the long scratch marks. It was like a scale in nature, round and shiny. Kaiba brought out a pair of tweezers and placed the small object in a glass vial and ceiled it.

He had just placed it in an inner coat pocket when he turned his flashlight to the shadows suddenly. A previously shadowed area of the basement was now illuminated. Kaiba’s eyes scanned the area carefully. He knew he had felt something watching him from that corner but whatever it had been was faster than he was. Suspiciously, Kaiba continued on with his exploration.

He walked down a small hallway. As he reached the end, here was a dark blood trail going from one room to another across the hall. Kaiba directed his flashlight into the first room then the second. He flashed behind him once more. He though he saw something move suddenly at the last minute. Kaiba stood there a moment looking, waiting, and watching. Convinced that it was his mind playing tricks on him he entered the first room.

This room was more lit than the rest of the basement because of a large crack in the basement ceiling. Blood was all over the floor. Kaiba even saw a hand print or two in the gruesome mix. He slapped on a pair of latex gloves and reached in his pocket for his tweezers and several vials that he might need. He picked out a painted nail from the mess and put it away. Kaiba also found a hair follicle and put it away for further analysis later. He also took several blood samples from different areas of the blood pool. After storing the blood samples in a small case attached to his belt and storing the others in his coat, he looked up at the gaping hole. From what he could tell, it was one of the off lying rooms from the main room. He shrugged, deciding to let Kiri handle the first and second floor.

Kaiba started to head over to the other room. His flashlight illuminated the door for a moment as if to frighten anything that might or might not be there. In the hallway, he looked one last time down the hallway. There was nothing there, not even a glimpse. Felling relatively confident, Kaiba entered the other room. The blood trail ended up leading to another hole. On the other side of the room was a gap in the concrete and soil.

“Wonderful. This house was built over an air pocket. Only a matter of time before the whole place gets swallowed up by the earth,” his spoke to himself.

He was somewhat surprised he was talking allowed to himself. Even more surprised that it seemed to calm some nerves that he was having. He looked over the edge and into the hole. It was pitch black. Not even the light of his flashlight could show him what was in store. He breathed heavily through his mouth. One last time he looked behind. There was just no shaking that someone or thing, was watching him closely. There was nothing there of course. Satisfied he stepped into the hole and fell to the unknown level below.