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✱ CHAPTER 10 : NEMESIS
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(In Japanese) "Where am I?" Suki awoke, staggering to her feet just as a speeding truck barreled toward her...
Suddenly, someone pulled her out of the way. The truck zoomed past as the rain began to fall.
"Are you all right?" Yuki asked anxiously, worry etched across her face. Suki replied, trying to calm her down. "I'm all right. Thank you for saving…"
"You're such a dork. Did you forget your glasses or something?" said a boy holding a randoseru school bag, just like hers, except his was black while hers was red. His slick-combed hair and fair skin mirrored hers eerily, as if they were twins... though they weren't. Just two people, destined to meet.
"Denji!! Stop teasing her. She's still in shock!" Hana scolded.
"Well, you could've hurt yourself protecting her," Denji taunted, half-serious.
Amid the commotion, Suki slowly composed herself and muttered in confusion, "Where... am I? What am I doing here?"
"D**n, she's totally lost it." He said. "Stop it, Denji! Suki, it's me, Hana! Do you remember me?" "Who'd remember a monkey like you?" Denji smirked.
WHACK! A thunderous umbrella smacked the back of his head. Hana stood over him, fuming.
Suki blinked, bewildered. "Hana? Denji? What's going on...?" "Crap... she remembers me," Denji mumbled, nose bleeding from the hit and blushing.
"Shut up, Denji! Suki, let's get to the hostel before it's too late. The rain won't stop, so let's hurry; we're almost there." But something wasn't right.
As they walked, Suki saw two men approaching from a distance. Her eyes widened in fear. Panic surged in her chest. Flashbacks rushed in… The kidnapping. Trafficking.
The horror that shattered her once-happy past. If only she hadn't forced her friends to buy her sister that gift...
—
She gasped awake, sitting in a black, empty room.
Heart pounding, she tried to piece together what had just happened. Then, from the darkness, Yuki appeared.
Protocol Nemesis has been initiated. Access granted to terminate all fellow Axolotl Operatives immediately. (She hands Suki a gun.) "But... Why?"
"No questions, Agent. Are you trying to go against your mission? Don't let your emotions take over…" LIKE LAST TIME.
Suki froze, shaken by the thought. Yuki opened the door. Beyond it was a normal-looking street, but something was... off. The lighting was vivid. Too vivid. The whole place was a color-filtered replica of the SGI Confidential Facility.
"Stay alert," Yuki instructed. "Kill anyone on sight. This zone is crawling with shapeshifters. They'll try to manipulate you. Don't trust anyone. Eliminate them. No hesitation."
Suki nodded slowly. "Ready? 3... 2... 1." They stepped forward, beginning a cold, wild hunt.
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12th Floor: Restricted Advanced Experimentation Zone
A sealed sector filled with experimental test sites, now abandoned due to the protocol. People staggered through the corridors, eyes pitch black, aimless, broken. Some lay unconscious. A lone security guard rested beside a sealed door, one hand still gripping the locking lever, his final act to protect whatever lay beyond.
The entire area was saturated with VXD-4. Unknown anomalies roamed the hallways. Green vines had overtaken the walls, transforming into full-blown plant trunks that glowed with a strange blue hue, an evolving ecosystem overtaking the site. Trees formed where desks once stood, nature twisting around abandoned office spaces.
Suddenly, a guard gasped awake, choking as though he'd been drowning. But now, he could breathe normally. Dazed, he scanned the lobby and saw a pile of corpses strewn across the floor.
Then, some of the bodies began to twitch and convulse violently. A chilling sensation crept over him. Uneasy, he scrambled to his feet and reached for his fallen gun. One of the corpses, its face grotesquely twisted, turned its head and stared at him with dark, reflective eyes.
Grabbing his weapon, the guard backed away, only to see more of the corpses begin to tremble. One by one, they started to rise, thick black liquid oozing from their eyes. Panic set in. There was no hope of escape; he knew it. But he ran anyway, sprinting down the long hallway as the creatures began to chase him, drawing closer with every step.
Turning a corner, he caught a glimpse of something horrifying: subjects suspended in test tubes, very much alive. The figures watched him run, grinning and laughing. The guard looked back once more. The creatures were smiling too wide, unnatural grins beneath eyes dripping black tears as they charged at him.
Desperate, he darted right and ducked into the locker room. Spotting an overhead vent, he climbed up and tried to crawl inside. The monsters banged on the door, searching for him, unaware that he had slipped away through the vents.
He crawled forward, still submerged in water, when suddenly, thunk! His head hit something. "Ahhhhhhh!" A female scream echoed in the narrow space.
Distressed, he pulled out his flashlight. The beam revealed a frightened scientist from the Medicus Sector, blonde hair, light blue eyes, trembling and visibly traumatized.
"Shhh... I'm a guard,"
he whispered, revealing his badge, Rez Martin, Medicus Rank 3. The badge shimmered with a calming turquoise hue, the color code for his rank.
She sighed in relief upon recognizing him. "Is anyone coming to rescue us, Martin?" she asked anxiously.
"Looks unlikely. How long have you been here?" "I... I don't know. I just woke up, and there were these people... with black eyes…"
"Same here. Well, what's your name?" he asked. She showed her ID: "Annie Stanford, Rank 3 Medicus Scientist."
"Do you have any idea what's going on? I just got up, and all this happened?" Martin asked. "No. I think it's an outbreak. The water... maybe it's part of a defense mechanism?"
Martin shook his head. "In my training sessions, I've never seen anything like this liquid before. It's breathable, but it ruins long-range combat, especially in sudden encounters."
He checked his pistol's magazine. As Annie crawled ahead, she asked, "There should be an exit through the lockdown sequence, right?" "I hope so. These vents lead toward the sewage and ventilation sectors." "Okay, let's keep going."
The creatures in the lower floors continued twitching in eerie stillness, waiting for new prey. The vents were murky, though the water had flushed away much of the grime. Crawling through, Martin felt a rising discomfort.
"Are you alright?" he asked. "Just... claustrophobic," Annie muttered. "Especially in a submerged vent. Did we reach the end?"
"Almost. But now that I think about it... which floor are we on?" "It should be lower." Otherwise, escape will be hell. Keep an eye out when we peek."
As they reached the end of the vent, Annie glanced through a crack in the wall. "Floor 13," she whispered grimly.
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Meanwhile, the rescue operatives reached B1 and B2 with Mochi. The room was in disarray, stationery and documents were scattered and floating in midwater, indicating that people had been present when the flooding occurred suddenly, as Levi speculated. It was too late to evacuate Mochi, so they decided to bring him.
The floors were lined with rows of data shelves, housing all archived files, sealed and accessible only with security access cards. Fortunately, the operatives were equipped with bypass cards, granting them access to everything needed to combat the unknown entities.
Mochi sat quietly at a study table, surrounded by embedded reading lights, while notepads and pens floated gently around each station. Thankfully, no entities were present in the area, as most had already moved toward the barricaded bridge. As the others searched for anything useful for the operation, Mochi began doodling on the white tabletop with one of the pens he found.
This library had three innovation-grade displays showcasing advanced technology:
A Cat Made of Nanobots – Capable of transforming its shape at the user's will. An unknown scientist from the SGI's confidential sector, believed to be an ex‑lead engineer, created in memories of his lost cat Peco.
A Genetically Modified Immortal Gecko with Rainbow Skin – Contained inside a large glass enclosure, complete with a miniature house and automated feeding system. A warning label strictly advised not to open the case or attempt to feed the gecko.
A White, Rectangular Gadget Shaped Like a TV Remote – Featuring a single button, it was described as the most advanced offline, self‑hosting AI built using classified materials. Tampering with it was prohibited and punishable by law, as it was only for demonstration purposes.
Levi, using his bypass card, carefully removed the device. Water had already seeped into the case without triggering safety protocols. He retrieved a drive from the gadget and inserted it into the utility port near the button, unsure if the gadget was waterproof.. To his surprise, the drive activated.
"Will this work?" he muttered. Curious, Orion came over to inspect while Brooks monitored the perimeter, and Mochi continued drawing. After a moment's hesitation, Levi pressed the single button.
[LOUD] Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep… "What the heck, stop this!!" Orion shouted as the loud beeping echoed across the room.
Startled, Levi quickly began trying to configure the device using his wristwatch, hoping to silence the alarm before it drew any unwanted attention.
Brooks held his gun tightly as he walked toward the foggy, dirt-streaked viewing glass. He peered into the next zone, flashing his light near the window, just enough to catch a glimpse of the desperate, cannibalistic employees who had been infected and twisted into monsters. Their hollow, monstrous eyes stared straight back through the glass.
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