1 A knock at the front door. Jiro slowly opened his eyes as he heard the knock again. He looked at the time and thought to himself how strange it was that Bastian hadn't gotten him up by now, it was already mid-afternoon. He heard the knocking again and looked out the window to see Madame Aiko standing outside. He opened the window and called down to her, "Hello, Madame!" She looked up at him and yelled back, "I'm sorry, Jiro, I was assuming that Bastian hadn't heard me knock the first few times." He shook his head no and yelled down, "I don't know where he is, he didn't come to wake me." Madame Aiko became concerned, saying, "Perhaps we should look for him together." Jiro came down and opened the door for her and they checked the entire house together, with no luck. Bastian had gone. "Perhaps he's had enough of me," thought Jiro. He became visually upset and Madame Aiko frowned down at him, suggesting that he head to the police station to report Bastian's disappearance. He looked back up at her and nodded. She wished him luck and he thanked her, closing the door. He sat down in the front room and tried his best to remember what had happened last night. He could remember when Bastian got him home. He helped him into the elevator and brought him to his bed. Bastian had laid him down, saying to him that all will be okay with time. One room he and Madame Aiko hadn't searched previously was his father's room on the second floor. He comes to the door of the bedroom and has a flashback, to the day his father died. It had been about a month since the surgery he had that helped him to have the ability to finally walk. He and his father were extremely happy for him, as he never once had the ability to walk, even before his accident. Jiro had been born with a physical condition, something to do with his spine, so he had always been confined to a wheelchair since birth. His father had told him once how lucky he was that he had the accident at all, for the sake that he may walk one day. Jiro thought much differently. One night, He had woken to a shriek coming from his father's room, and the whole house was awake. Jiro had found himself to be the first person to respond to the yelling of the maid, who had now run out of the bedroom and down the other end of the hallway. He looked on to the open door, and light beamed through from it into the dark hallway which he was. He neared the door and then looked inside. His father's bed was right in front of the door, and he was laying on his bed with his arms spread out, and blood was coming from his eyes and nose. Jiro stood there and stared at the Bizarre scene for about a minute more before anyone else showed up. He was rushed out of the room by many hands, being pushed from one person to another down the hallway back to his bedroom eventually, taken by another maid. He remembers how she kissed his forehead and said to him, "I'm so sorry for your loss, Lord Jiro." She left him in his room alone. He sat there and stared out into the darkness and could only think about one thing. He felt absolutely nothing at all for what he had just witnessed. Now, here he was. Looking at his father's door again, about a year after his death. Still, he felt nothing. Opening the door, he looked around before stepping inside. The room was covered in thick dust, as Jiro had most of the previous staff let go after his father died. He felt like he had no need for them anymore. But Bastian, he had to keep. He felt terrible for Bastian. Jiro could only remember as far back as his accident, and he wasn't sure how Bastian was to him before that. He was only 11 at the time, but all the memories he did have of him since, he always treated him like his own family. Jiro hated it as much as he loved it because he hated to see Bastian chained to his own miserable life. He felt as if perhaps Bastian felt like he needed to be there with him because of his condition. He suspected for a while that maybe Bastian felt like he was involuntarily tied down to Jiro. Now that he was gone, Jiro couldn't help but think the worst. This almost confirmed his long-term suspicions about Bastian. However, he also had a very bad feeling in the back of his mind. That maybe Bastian was hurt or in danger of some kind. He had to go to the police station. He called a cab that took him down there and then he was brought back with two police officers. They were going to search the home and check some of his belongings, with Jiro's permission, of course, to see if they could get a clue as to what's happened to Bastian. The two policemen were both dressed in long tan trench coats over their regular uniforms. One had black hair, and the other had brown. They both had similar black shoes. They went inside the house while Jiro waited outside. "This guy probably just took off, sick of dealin' with these rich types," the brown-haired one said. "Yeah, I bet," said the other, as he opened the door to the room that Jiro had said belonged to Bastian. "First door on the right, directly passed the kitchen. This one looks to be it," the black-haired one said as he turned the knob. The room was painted burgundy and had elegant-looking vintage furniture inside. The bed had a sturdy dark wood bed frame with red bedding. They search the room and found a full wardrobe, along with important tax documents and his wallet. They decided to search the rest of the Manor, and like Jiro, they found nothing else. When they were done, they came out to see him. "Sorry kid, there's not much else we can do now, but wait to see if he comes back. I took a picture of his I.D. so we know what he looks like if anything comes up". The man smacks his hand lightly on Jiro's shoulder twice, saying, "You have a good day, now." They got into their car and left Jiro standing there alone. He looked out, past the garden, out through the bars of the black fence that lined the home, and out over the cliff. He could see the city below. "He must be embarrassed by me," he spoke aloud to no one. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hand tightly, then abruptly turned and put a hole through the wall with his fist, causing a large nearby painting to fall down. His face changed to worry, and he looked down at the painting. He calmed down after he realized it was broken, and he looked back at the hole he made. Later, when he had put up the painting back up, he placed it over the hole. He hated being angry. He had always preferred to have as much self-control as possible. But when he was angry... he felt a change in him that he could not control. He had outbursts, but never towards the people around him. "Now I'm all alone," he cried softly to himself while gazing up at the ceiling. A voice spoke out of nowhere. The voice of a girl. "You aren't alone." He turned in all directions and saw no one. "Who- who said that!?" He ran out into the adjacent hallway by the front door and looked around, and then across the hall from the kitchen inside of the first-floor living room. "Not there." He looked down into the hall again, confused, saying, "Where?" His hand flew up towards his face like lightning, and stopped flat, completely stretched out, right in front of his face. "Here." He fell back onto the floor as he tried to pull his face away from his hand. It wiggled its fingers in front of his eyes and then waved back and forth as he grabbed it with his other free hand and tried to push it away. It would not budge. "Why do you have fear? Let me turn that off for you." He suddenly felt a little empty inside and frowned. His hand was let free and he shook it, staring at it in full disbelief. The voice spoke again, "Is that better?" Jiro shook his head. "No, worse." Then, a warm vibration slithered up his metallic spine, and a soft smile appeared across his face. "How is that?" "Much better." 3 "This is the place," said Sonia, who had just arrived at a small 2 story building, surrounded by tall willow trees. There was a large white sign reading "BIOTECHNICA MEDICAL." They drove into the far back of the parking lot, taking a look at the back. A tall diamond-wired fence lined the property, and most of what lay outside the building was concrete, all but for a sole bench sitting on a square of now quite overgrown grass. Next to the bench, however, was a metal door. On it was a decently sized square window. It also had a keyhole from what they could see, and it read 'Exit Only,' above the door. "The licensed medical address for this alleged Dr. Monroe is still registered at this building," said Lucas. "What's going on here?" Sonia lit up a cigarette. "I dunno'," she tossed the lighter onto the dash. "You know, they have some real nerve sending us all the way out here and the place isn't even open." She took a long drag and blew out the window, looking over to the back door by the bench. "I think it's strange," said Lucas. "Maybe he is in there". Sonia laughed, looking over at him while relaxing her head on the post of her seat. "Yeah? His ghost might be in there." Lucas raised an eyebrow at her. "You think he's dead?" She shrugged and blew another drag out. "I hate cases like this. They always give me the heebie-jeebies." Lucas crossed his arms and leaned back, looking forward. "I know what you mean. But this one is extra weird." She flicked her cigarette butt out the window and started to roll up the window. "Well, we better get a move on." Lucas looked at her questioningly and asked, "Where are we going?" She smiled and got out, lightly slamming the door behind her. She leaned back onto her side of the car and lit another smoke up as Lucas then got out. "How about you and I take a little look inside of this here medical center," she said. Lucas frowned and replied, "We don't have a warrant". "Relax, big guy," she said cooly, throwing a half-smoked cigarette onto the ground and stepping on it. Lucas wasn't up for it. "That's not a good idea." She turned to him, smiling, and winked. "If anyone asks, we're just two lovers trying to find a place to be alone." He blushed and made an awkward look that made her laugh. "Come on, handsome." "Don't call me that," said Lucas jokingly. They made their way over to the building and to the metal door. Lucas looked around for something to break the window with, but then saw that Sonia had a glass breaker, which is a tool used to break glass in emergencies, like car accidents. She broke out the bottom of the window and reached in, opening the door from the inside with a push of the latch. "She's pretty quick," he thought. "Hurry up, before someone sees". They both got inside and Lucas turned and closed the latch of the door quietly behind them. He turned back around and Sonia was gone. "Miss Kiyama?" he whispered out into the dim hall ahead of him. Next to him on the left, was a gray stairwell with metal railings. On the right, was a janitor closet. He trod lightly and looked around into one of the nearby open doors and whispered again, "Miss Kiyama, where are you?" Something fell upstairs above him and his attention went back to the stairwell. Great. He walked slowly towards the stairwell and went to take the first step up when Sonia came out from a closed door that was across from the open one Lucas had looked inside just moments ago. He backed away from the stairwell and went towards her when she started to say, "Where are you go-" he stopped her saying "Sh," softly, while raising a finger to his mouth. "I heard something fall upstairs," he whispers to her. She nods seriously, and they walk towards the stairwell together now holding their guns cautiously. In the middle of the two floors, there is a mirror across the wall. They stop and check it to see if anything is visible, but no luck. They make their way up the stairs, coming to a dark, cold hallway above. Every door was closed, all but for one at the very end that had natural light coming out of it. One step after another, they make their way to the end of the hallway and Lucas is ahead, while Sonia covers the back. Lucas turns to her right before he is at the door, and he signals to her that he will look on the third count and she will stay behind, covering both the hallway and the door. He counted silently on his hand and they both sprung into action simultaneously, with Sonia pointing her gun down the hall while also watching Lucas. Inside the room were a few empty tables and some rolling chairs, that was all. However, the window of the room was wide open and the white curtains danced in a heavy wind. Lucas looked out the window from the second floor and Sonia saw him doing this and whispered to him, "Anything?" "No," he said, stepping back and looking at her. She nodded and they repeated the same pretty much all the way down the hall, five more rooms until they came to the last one. They hadn't been paying enough attention to notice before, but this first door on the right was different from the rest. It was a metal door, painted green. There was a small square window at face level, and inside, many computers and giant screens could be seen. You would think such a door would be locked, but it slid open like butter as soon as Lucas put a hand to it. The knob hadn't quite shut on the inside. They looked into what now could definitely be recognized as a small lab. Every other room they had checked so far was practically empty, just chairs and tables. This room, however... seemed fully operational. One computer in the room was on, and none of the others could be operated or even turned on. They needed a password to log in, so they decided to look around the room. Sonia saw that the room had two doors at the far left end, one at each end of the wall. One had a window. She peered into it and saw a single hospital bed across from where she stood, with some empty IV equipment and basic doctor's office supplies on a table nearby it. A large window was on the right wall of the bed. The curtains were open and she could see a large branch of a willow tree swaying outside it. The other door was a heavy black metal door with a keycard slot. Lucas was looking around at the few long tables throughout the center of the room. They had all sorts of blueprints, and he couldn't believe his eyes at what they were for. He saw a blueprint for a mechanical arm, and another for the individual fingers. What then caught his interest, was the empty incubator next to them. What could that be for? Inside the incubator were multiple wires and all sorts of sensor attachments, leading into two custom-built PCs next to it on each side, both of their cases were tall and stood on the floor to about shoulder height. Sonia walked over to a long bookcase and started to sift through them, looking for anything of use to them. There were all sorts of files along the shelves, along with multiple medical books. Below the shelves, were many blueprints rolled up, some ready to almost fall right off the shelf. She accidentally knocked a few over, and underneath there was a file with the name "Goro Kubo." She picked it up and called Lucas over, but he was busy looking through a few file drawers near the incubator. She opened the files and saw records of Lord Goro Kubo's medical history, along with things like x-rays and even a few photos. One, a portrait of Goro Kubo alone. Another was a family photo, of a birthday party. She assumed the child was his son. He was young, with short black hair, and he sat in a wheelchair. They sat around a white table and the cake in the middle of it read, 'Happy Birthday Jiro.' She called Lucas over again and he finally did come, but on his way over he noticed something on a table. A lanyard, with a detachable key card on it. He picked it up and looked back and forth at it in his hand as he made his way over to Sonia. She showed him the pictures as soon as he got to her, and she opened the files out onto a table, skimming through them with a finger. He looked down at the files with her and as she said, "Look here-" there was a noise from downstairs. The door latch closed loudly, and they both looked up immediately from the files. Lucas was holding the keycard in his hand still and Sonia saw it, taking it from him and pulling his sleeve over towards the black door she was looking at earlier. They could hear footsteps quickly coming up the stairs and Sonia pushed the card into the slot, praying it would work, and it did, but it didn't give her back the card. The door had a red light come on, flashing red. It went green and the door opened, with them rushing inside. They didn't turn the light on before closing the door, and inside, the room was completely pitch black. They both paused and listened closely as someone had now entered the outer room, and they heard one heavy footstep after another. They got closer into the room and then suddenly stopped, but a moment later they took off running down out the door and down the stairs, and presumably down the hall of the first floor. They listened for a bit longer and assumed they were alone again. "Something's really off about this place," whispered Lucas in the dark as he began searching for a light along the wall. He banged his knee off a chair and cursed. Sonia was checking the door itself, looking for the Keycard. "Try to find a light," she said. "Already on it," replied Lucas, as he rubbed his knee. The light came on and Sonia was looking down at the floor. "Ah! Here we go," she said, picking up the card. "It looks like this keycard works only one way," she started, "If you didn't have one of these-" Lucas put his hand on her shoulder. She stood up, and he turned her around as she did. Her mouth dropped. In the room was a hospital bed covered with old blood-stained sheets, and the surrounding walls were covered in all sorts of miscellaneous technology scattered throughout shelves and tables. Some things were pinned to hang on the wall, such as certain blueprints and medical information. There were also tools of all kinds organized neatly on one long table, next to the bed itself. Another thing was that the bed had multiple restraints and wires that hung from above, they were attached to a nearby broken computer. The thing had been smashed, or maybe forcefully taken apart. Lucas looked down and one of the blueprints again, of a finger. "This is some complex shit," he said, impulsively. "Its bionic technology," said Sonia. "High-quality electronic prosthetics." "But then, what's with all the blood?" Lucas looked around the room and floor. Suddenly, the floor beneath them felt hot and the air was heating up quickly. "A fire!" stated Lucas, with Sonia reaching the keycard towards the door. She put it into the door, but accidentally backward. It spat the card out at her. "Come on!" said Sonia, as it hit the floor. She bent down to get it and raised up, putting the card back into the slot the right way. Lucas looked back at the room behind them, he grabbed the blueprint of the finger off the table and saw a folder inside an open drawer, and took that too. The door opened, and the lab was now filled with smoke, they made a run for it and went out into the hallway, heading towards the stairs. "We can't go that way!" yelled Lucas back to her. He remembered the window open at the end of the hallway and grabbed her arm, holding the blueprint and folder tightly to himself with his other hand. They ran down the hall, and into the last room. Lucas placed the items down on the table that was right in front of the large window and pulled himself up onto it, looking outside. Below, he saw flames in some of the first-floor windows. "I'll go first and catch you," said Lucas back to Sonia, who was now coughing from the heavy smoke. She managed to say alright, and he positioned himself on the edge of the window, looking down at the concrete below. He tossed the folder and blueprints down first, and some of the loose papers flew away into the wind. He quickly jumped down, but he landed on his side and felt an icy deep wound in his ribs. When he took a breath the sore part, which he assumed he just fractured, felt sharp. He looked back up at Sonia, who was just positioning herself onto the edge of the window, getting ready to jump. She looked down at him and called out, "Are you okay?" He nodded and stood there, holding out his arms. She jumped from the window and he caught her, but his time he felt a tear in his side and fell to the ground, crying out. She helped him up to sit and he pointed over to the folder and blueprints and gasped for air and he told her to get them. She rushed over to them and picked up what she could, and some of the papers were flying quickly away with the wind, but they were stopped at the fence. She started to jog towards them when suddenly, something hit her shoulder. She cried out, and Lucas forced himself to spin around on the floor and look over to her. She was holding her shoulder and he could see a red stain forming on her white shirt underneath the leather jacket. "What happened?" he hissed as loud as his breath allowed him, as she took what she could and tried to jog back to him. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Lucas saw something flash in the light, and then, suddenly, Sonia's shoulder was struck again. He looked to the car, the tires had been slashed. She helped him up with her good arm as fast as she could and they took off together, limping towards the far, narrow exit of the building's parking lot. Just then, Lucas gets hit in the shoulder as well, on the same side Sonia had. "What the hell is this shit," said Sonia, taking out a gun with her right hand and holding it up between them as they limped on, looking all around. They just make their way out of the entrance of the lot when four police cruisers show up, along with two fire trucks and a crowd of people began to form behind them. The cops all got out and held their guns directly at Sonia, and people started to scatter and a policeman yells out, "Hold it right there! Don't freakin' move!"